Lucifer Jadis
by TennisMenace
Summary: A little pointy-eared girl is left by her only family, the Pevensies, to face Caspian the Conqueror alone. After years  of evading cursed, greedy Telmarine kings she is captured by the tenth and forced into an engagement. Amid scheming uncles, smarmy lords, violently jealous princes, and a witch with a score to settle, can she win the Narnian's their freedom? PeterXOCXCaspian
1. Prologue

Lu heaved one last ragged, shuddering breath before her knees buckled, leaving her sprawled under an alcove by some shallow, murky watering hole in the middle of the dense forest. It may not have been the best of hiding places, but the epic battle against gravity had been lost and getting back up again was _completely _out of the question. Besides, it was pretty good under the circumstances.

Suddenly these mundane, trivial thoughts evaporated as the reality of the situation crashed over her like a tidal wave, leaving her swamped in mental agony and gasping for air. Lu's legs and arms curled around her body in a futile attempt to shield herself from the memories now flooding her mind. In the last few days her perfect little world had been blown apart, piece by piece. It had started with the disappearance of Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy; then those monsters had come with they're war machines and killed all of the creatures under her protection. It felt as if her own children had been slaughtered. And how could Peter, of all people, have left her? She'd thought they'd had an understanding!

An unexpected bittersweet memory entered Lu's mind, and she surrendered to it's numbing presence. It wasn't something she would really like to remember under the circumstances, but it was better than anything else trying to surface in her head.

_She was watching Peter from behind one of the numerous red and gold tents that were scattered throughout the Narnian's campsite. The area seemed completely deserted in the glow of pre-dawn with everyone still asleep, including Lucy and Susan. Lu had heard Peter slip from the tent he was meant to share with Edmund, and decided to follow him out to the rock he was now sitting on. She was to far away to see his expression, but his head was bowed in either grief or concentration. Probably both._

_He was definitely worried about his family. Lu had known that he would take Edmund's betrayal personally, and on top of that they were all stuck in the middle of a Narnian war. That was too much for any child to handle. She wished she could help him, but what did she know about anything? She was just a child too!_

_Suddenly something on Peter's face caught the sunlight and sparkled, drawing Lu's direct attention. If the toughest boy she had ever known was really crying, then she _had_ to find some way to help. Deciding to wing it, as usual, Lu left her hiding place and picked her way over to the boy, hoping her mind would come up with something before she reached him._

" _Oh, Lu! What are you doing out of bed this early?" her appearance caused him to hastily wipe under his eyes, just as Lu's frantically working mind churned out an idea so completely insane, it made her cringe just thinking about it. But she couldn't allow him to suffer any longer, and at least now she had a plan._

" _I got it!" She exclaimed, waving her arms around in childish delight._

" _Got what?" Peter stood up and gazed down at her confusedly. Even though he was still young, Peter towered over her as she stood in front of him._

" _The answer to your problem!" Explained Lu impatiently. " _The _problem."_

" _I'm afraid I don't follow you." Peter's patience was still a little choked with grief, but she pretended not to notice._

" _Your parents are gone!" She said solumnly. " And _your _trying to raise the rest of them by yourself!"_

" _I guess you don't learn to be tactful in Narnia." muttered Peter. " What's your point?"_

" _Your doing all the worrying of two parents _and_ an older brother! You can't handle that. Your just one person, and a kid at that. _That's_ why people get married before they have children! So they have someone else to do half of the worrying." Despite the situation, Lu was ecstatic at having solved what she considered to be one of the worlds greatest mysteries._

_Peter blinked down at the naive child in front of him._

" _Er, Lu. I don't think that's why people get married." Lu swished her hand dismissively._

" _Why else could it be?" Peter sighed._

" _Maybe it's because they love each other Lu." He explained wearily. Lu eyed him incredulously._

" _Love doesn't exist." She stated matter of factly, "It's obviously because of shared worrying and responsibility. If your gonna have kids, you have to get married."_

" _If you say so." Lu stared up at him expectantly._

" _And you're worrying too much.." She whispered, reaching up to rest a hand on one of his shoulders._

" _Oh, I get it." Peter layed a hand on her cheek and leaned forward until their foreheads were resting against each other. Though Lu was still young and extremely naïve, fear clutched at her stomach. For some reason she felt the need to run away, like she had accidentally stumbled upon some unknown, forbidden territory._

" _Lucifer, will you be my wife?" asked Peter, his eyes suddenly shining brighter than usual._

" _Of course I will, what are friends for?" Lu's voice came out weaker than she expected. " There, see? Now I can worry for you." Peter wrapped his arms around her and drew her against him. Lu rested her head on his chest and smiled, unease forgotten. Now he wouldn't have quite so many troubles to weigh him down cause she would share them, and if he was happy, she was happy._

" _Why do I have to be the wife?" Lu questioned indignantly, " I thought that was the one who spent more time with the kids!"_

" _Lu-"_

" _We're partners now." She interrupted him, moving against his chest to look up at his eyes. " Don't ever leave me, okay?" _

" _I won't ever." promised Peter, " why would you even think that?"_

" _People leave me a lot."_

After days of holding herself together under impossible stress, Lu cracked. Not even she could withstand the horrors fate had seen fit to burden her with. The tears started as a trickle, but grew into a full fledged storm as Lu lashed out at nothing with tiny, fisted hands and kicking feet, trying to find some release for her pain through violence. When she had used up the last reserves of her already depleted strength, sleep rescued her overwhelmed mind.

***Smash***

**"**Damn, who put that there!" Lu cringed and wrapped bruised arms around her now pounding head. "Stupid rock thing!" She growled, kicking the rock overhang above her and ending up in even more pain.

After spending what felt like an hour nursing a crushing headache and a big toe that had turned purple, Lu realized that it was still night, pitch black, and therefore, she couldn't see a thing. Fear crept up her spine as she pushed her back against the side of the rocky alcove, pulling out a jewel hilted hunting knife and holding it in front of herself defensively. When she was certain her cries of pain had not attracted anything dangerous, she relaxed and sheathed the blade, still watching for any sign of a threat. As her mind became dazed from exhaustion, the wall of darkness seemed to pull thoughts out of her head through wide, staring eyes. Memories already etched in her skull forever started playing out on the pitch black canvas.

Perhaps her eye's had been stained red. Surely witnessing such carnage left a tangible mark? Or would all evidence of her suffering reside purely in the non-physical?


	2. Family

Lu lay sprawled on the floor of her bedroom in Cair Paravel, immense deep green eyes fixed vacantly on the ceiling and fiery red hair splayed out around her head like an enormous fan. A slight breeze infused with the aura of spring slipped in through the open window, along with light from the low hanging evening sun that illuminated individual dust motes as they floated lazily around the room.

A particularly interesting piece of floating dust distracted Lu from her scrutiny of the ceiling. It was headed strait for her, looping and twirling in the wind. So fixed on the speck was Lu, that she didn't notice where it was going until it hit her strait in the eye.

All she could think was, how often does that happen?

Now, most people would immediately try and get the dust out of their eye, and not sit there speculating. But Lu really didn't like messing with her eyes. She didn't even rub them when they were tired. Acknowledging that they were there seemed like tempting fate. They might poison her mind, and make her evil as her mother had been.

Because Lu's eyes were not the first of their color to glare at the creatures of Narnia. She had inherited them from her mother Jadis, the last queen of Charn. If she had her mother's eyes, what else did she get? Could the little seed of madness that had rotted Jadis's mind be present in hers as well? Was it growing this very minute? She knew that her temper was unnaturally short, and she had the tendency to be cruel, but could those traits escalate until she became her mother? It was best not to dwell on these things, lest she create one of those pesky self-fulfilling prophecies. That's why Lu avoided the one part of herself that was obviously her mother's.

No one who knew Jadis would have ever expected her to have a child. But sometime during her evil reign, a completely new species of creature found their way into Narnia from one of the numerous other worlds. They called themselves elves.

The elves quickly established themselves as being extremely intelligent, flighty, self-centered, and slightly vicious. However, if one could earn the trust and respect of an elf, they were eternally loyal. Whenever they became seriously attached to something, they did so with their entire heart and soul.

Though elvish secrets were fiercely protected, there were rumors that they possessed magical determination; A will so strong it could bend the elements and twist fate itself. Over time, it also became evident that their life span and maturation time line was much different than that of any other mortal creature. They took hundreds of years to grow and develop, although they were born aware of their surroundings, and with much greater intelligence than any human child. Eventually they would stop growing and plateau, where they would be frozen in time unless killed by injury. At what age the maturing stopped depended on the elf.

The White Witch, Jadis, fell in love with the elven leader and cast a spell to make him return her affection. They had Lu, and for a while they were happy. The other elves were wary of Jadis, and they could sense that something was off about their leader as well, but they all fell in love with the strange little part elf child. She was the pride and joy of the entire elf clan, because elven children only came around once a century or so.

When Lu was about the equivalent of a human six year old, the leader of the elves broke the spell that Jadis had cast on him, and all of his love for her turned to bitter hatred. He was disgusted by the daughter that he had once cherished, and tried to kill little Lu. Jadis caught him before he could, however, and Lu escaped with only a knife wound on her hand where she had grabbed the dagger that her father had tried to plunge in her heart.

This horrified the elven clan, and they stole Lu away. An enraged Jadis came after them, and slaughtered every one of the elves that had become Lu's extended family as they tried to protect the girl. That was a night that Lu knew would haunt her nightmares forever

_The screams of the frantic ice witch resonated throughout the now completely silent elf village:_

" _Where is she! She's MINE! She's his! GIVE BACK MY DAUGHTER!"_

_Lu struggled in the arms of her grandmother. The old elven lady had taken her down to the cellar of one of the houses and kept her there._

" _That's my mommy! Mommy-" A withered hand smothered her voice._

" _Shh sweetie. Your mother's not right anymore. You can't see her." Her grandmother whispered._

" _But she said she _needs _me, cause daddie's gone. Daddies go- , daddy?" Lu started to cry at the memory of what her father had tried to do to her._

" _No dear, don't think of your father right now."_

" _Grandma?" Lu choked, " Why was auntie covered in paint?"_

" _Sweetie-"_

_*** Smash ***_

_The entire house covering them was blown apart. The old elven lady shielded Lu from the falling debris as Jadis made her way down the steps of the hole in the ground that used to be a basement._

" _Lu my darling, remember what I said about daddy's people?You haven't forgotten what he did,have you?" The chilly voice made Lu pull away from her grandmother with surprising strength. She spread her arms in front of the old lady and glared at her mother._

" _No more hurting." She said calmly. Two pairs of identical green eyes stared into each other. One full of hate, and one full of defiance._

_Suddenly, something moving behind Jadis distracted Lu. There was a large golden lion standing on the edge of the basement and looking down at them. _

" _Kittie?" whispered Lu. Jadis looked around and saw the lion, her eyes widening in disbelief._

" _You." She hissed._

_Then Lu's grandmother stood up and moved in front of her._

" _You do not deserve this child." She stated angrily. Lu screamed as Jadis picked the old elf up by her neck and held her above the ground._

" _She is MY daughter!" She shrieked._

" _Mommy's gone byebye." muttered Lu, " Kitty will help me!" She shouted. Jadis tossed Lu's grandmother out of the pit and the old lady was silent. Lu imagined her covered in paint, just like all the others. The paint was bad. Bad paint. No more grandma, no more auntie, no more anyone._

_Jadis focused back on the little girl._

" _Now." She purred, " Come give momma a kiss!"_

" _Bad momma!" Shrieked Lu. Then the Lion was right next to her._

Aslan took Lu from that basement. He raised her far away from the evil of her mother, hoping that one day she could help save Narnia by finding the four kings and queens. As a creature of the humanoid-ish persuasion, she was the ideal candidate to venture into the human world and bring back the children destined to defeat the White Witch.

When Aslan deemed her capable of taking care of herself-at least partially- he gave her the mission of finding the prophecy children and dumped her in the human world.

She appeared at a random train station in London, surrounded by more people than she had ever seen in her life. A bag of necessities that she'd never seen before was slung over her shoulder and she was clutching a stuffed lion, looking like just another normal little girl and not a part elf-part giantess ice witch from another world. There was some sort of identification tag clipped to the clothes she was wearing, and she had never felt so lost in her life. Mission forgotten, she stood in the midst of all those people and tried her best not to have an episode. Though Aslan had told her she could handle the task of searching the strange other world, Lu was only the equivalent of an eleven year old girl, who had never been so overwhelmed in her life.

When the train in the station started to sound periodic whistle warnings, she started to panic. Thankfully, someone came to her rescue.

" _Excuse me?" the polite voice sounded from behind her. Lu blinked her eyes hard and swallowed. What could this be? She turned around and came face to face with a tall, light haired boy with piercing blue eyes. His expression was one of concern._

" _Y-yes?" choked Lu, blinking her eyes again and clutching her stuffed lion._

" _Are you alone?" Lu nodded. The boy frowned._

" _Are you lost? Where are your parents?" She looked down and examined the ground. What could she say?_

" _I haven't got any." Lu stated defiantly. The boy started._

" _Then how did you get here?" He asked in wonder._

" _I'm not su-"_

" _Peter! Where are you, we've got to get on the train!" A loud voice rescued Lu from completing the awkward sentence. The boy looked back at a tall, wavy haired girl._

" _Just a minute Susan!" He called to the girl, then turned back to look at Lu, " Hey, your tag says the same thing as ours!"_

" _Huh?" she looked down at the tag as the boy examined it._

" _My entire family is going to the same refugee volunteer's home as you. I wonder who would have enough room for so many kids? Anyway, come with me. I'll help you." The blue eyed boy held out his hand for her to take. Lu stared at it, switching her stuffed lion to the other arm. Shakily, she reached out and took the boy's hand. " My name's Peter, what about you?" he asked kindly._

" _Lucifer." she whispered. The boy smiled and toed her back in the direction of the wavy haired girl, who was standing next to a raven haired boy with a mean expression and a little girl even younger than Lu._

Eventually, they all made it to Narnia, albeit with some complications. Later, Lu found out that Aslan had not meant for her to actually find the Pevensie's at all, but for them to find her. He had used her as bait to lure them from their world, and then to make sure they stayed and fulfilled their destiny to defeat the White Witch.

Along the way, she became a part of the Pevensie family. They took care of her as much as she did them. Peter was her savior. Ever since the day in the train station, he had earned her respect and she would do anything for him. Lu had liked Lucy from the beginning too. Warming up to the others had taken a little longer. Susan could sometimes be boring with her distaste for the violent activities that Lu thrived on and insistence on practicality, but the girl was incredibly kind. Edmund liked to tease her, and at first she hadn't liked him at all. Eventually she learned that he could be very clever and wasn't always spitefull. Lu really enjoyed baiting him. Like now, of course, by being late for one of his favorite times of day, dinn-

***Bang Bang*** Someone impatiently pounded on her door.

" Just a min-ute!" she sing-songed, blinking the dust from her eye. " I'm indecent!"

" Indecent my arse, I've had it with you!" yelled a familiar voice. The doors burst open, slamming into the wall. A man with a shaggy mop of black hair rushed in and grabbed her, throwing her over his shoulder. " You said you would be down in a minute! What are you even doing? I'm starving and Pete won't let us eat until you get there!"

" Edmund, put me down! And cut your hair!"

" Never!" He ran out of the room and almost tripped down the stairs. Eventually, they made it to the dining hall with Lu still on Edmund's shoulder. He dumped her in a seat next to Peter and sat down on her other side. " Got the little git, we can eat now!" he shouted then proceeded to fill his plate while grumbling about women and there lack of respect for mealtimes.

" Did you carry her all the way down here Ed?" asked Lucy on Edmund's left.

" Yeah, wasn't even difficult. She weighs like two pounds! We've all gotten older Lu, why not you?" inquired Edmund around a mouthful of food.

" It's an elf thing" Lu grumbled.

" So then how old are you really?" asked Susan for like the 1000000th time.

" I told you guys! Aging is different for elves. It doesn't matter! Can we please talk about something other than me being freakish, even for this place?" Lu yelled.

" No need to shout Lu." Smirked Peter, gesturing to the rest of the dining hall occupants, all of which had dropped their conversations and had their heads turned indignantly in her direction. Lu's face immediately flushed scarlet.

"Um, sorry guys, didn't mean it! Love you all and you know it!" There were grumbles, but the statement seemed to be generally accepted. Lu punched the air, " Winning, forgiven!" Then turned around and punched Peter in the arm.

" Ow, hey! What was that for?" Peter rubbed his arm, " We need to find this girl an outlet for all her violent behavior."

" I've got an idea!" exclaimed Edmund.

" Oh please" moaned Lu, " Not another one of your crazy schemes. That extreme life-chess thingy gave me bruises in places we shall never discuss!"

" Come on! This one will be better, I promise! I heard some of the fawns talking about it. Have you guys ever heard of the golden stag?"

" You mean the silver stag." Corrected Lucy.

" Luce, please, it's the golden stag"

" No Lu, it's the silver stag." Explained Peter.

" Which one did Edmund say it was again?"

" The Golden stag."

" Then I'm with silver" exclaimed Lu, earning a glare from Edmund.

" Whatever you guys. Anyway- I overheard some of the fawns saying they spotted it a few miles east of here, and I think we should go on a hunt for it."

" Exactly how many is a few?"

" Maybe four."

" I'm in."

" Me too."

" Yeah, finally an Edmund activity that doesn't involve me going one on one with a centaur five times my size!"

" Guys!" Everyone turned to look at Lu. " Let's take a moment to think back on all the other of Edmund's activities that we've ever tried. Have any of them _not_ ended in utter disaster? No. So what makes you think this one will be any different? Hmm? I, for one, am not willing to end up trapped in a cave for a week with only Susan to talk to like last time!"

" Hey!"

" Sorry Sue, but for real you guys. Just _think_ about this."

" She's got a point." Decided Peter. Lu threw him a smile.

" But you guuuuys!" Whined Edmund. " What could possibly happen?"

" Lets give it a try." conceded Lucy, eyeing Edmund's pitiful expression.

" Fine! But count me out!"

" But Lu!"

" No buts!" Lu got up and stalked over to the door, flinging it open and turning around. "You have been warned, and when your in unprecedented amounts of pain and trapped somewhere with no hope of escape, don't come crying to me!" and with that, she made her dramatic exit.

" So judgmental"

" Shut up Ed"


	3. Alone

Lu lay peacefully on her bed, just about to drift off to sleep when suddenly:

***crack***

Something smashed into her window. Lu groaned and rolled out of bed. Selecting a vase from her shelf, she unlocked the window and was preparing to heave it out and hopefully do some damage when she realized it was Peter sitting on a horse beneath her.

" What the bloody hell was that for?" she called, still bleary eyed and extremely grumpy.

" You can still come with us Lu! Come on down, it'll be fun!" Yelled Peter. She vigorously shook her head. Peter sighed and turned his horse around to join his brother and sisters. As they began to trot away, a sense of foreboding entered Lu. She couldn't shake the strange feeling that she might never see them again. They disappeared into the forest and Lu started hyperventilating in a full fledged panic attack. Before she could tear off after them, Lu calmed herself down. They would be back. Why wouldn't they? It wasn't like it was the end of the world or something! Everything would be fine.

Lu flopped back onto her bed, thinking about how much the Pevensies had come to mean to her since they had saved Narnia together. She couldn't imagine life without them, and her life before them had been miserable to say the least. Catching a glimpse of her eyes, like chips of ice in the mirror on the other side of the room, she sighed as she was reminded of why her life before had been so miserable.

**Peter**

Peter cast one last longing glance at the window that had framed Lu's angry head just a few seconds previously. He couldn't shake the feeling that she needed to come with them or something bad would happen to her. All he wanted to do was run back inside the castle and wrap his arms around her tired body.

Ever since he had found Lu lost and alone in that train station in London, Peter had felt strangely attached to the girl. When he had been worrying about what he would do to keep his family safe in the middle of the Narnian war, she had come to his rescue. Together, they had made sure that every one of the Pevensies survived the battle against the White Witch. And he would be forever grateful to her for that.

At first, when Lu had proposed her solution to the problem of raising the Pevensie children and his extreme stress levels, he thought that she might have been hinting that she liked him as more than a friend or a brother. Soon after, however, it became evident that she was even more naïve and oblivious than he could ever have guessed. She pretended to be his wife like she said she would in that she was a mother _and_ a sister to the other Pevensie's. Of course at first, that's all he had wanted.

But when he grew older, he began to see Lu in a different light. She was beautiful, cunning when she wanted to be, and had the biggest heart of anyone he had ever known, even though she tried her best to hide it. Peter began to wish that she would develop feelings for him, but she didn't seem to even be aware of that entire aspect of life. He tried to make her notice him as more than just a brother or a friend; that was when he realized that she was either actively ignoring his hints, or was just incredibly thickheaded. He remembered one of the times of greatest frustration:

" _Lu, hey LU!" Peter tried to capture the distracted girls attention. They were taking a short break on a rock together a little ways away from Cair Paravel's training grounds. From there, they had a clear view of Lucy, Susan, and Edmund's progress in combat practice._

" _Huh?" Lu turned away from the other Pevensies and focused on Peter. " What were you saying Pete?"_

" _I was saying, remember how you said we could be like parents to the others, so we could share the responsibility?" He stared intently into her eyes, trying to get her to understand what he was trying to say. " What if, we really were together like that? Married I mean. Would you be happy?"_

" _We are silly! We took care of the others together, that means we are married! That's what married people do." She turned back to the other Pevensie's, stroking a nonexistent beard. " And I think we did a rather good job of it too! Do you _see_ Edmund beating that centaur-"_

" _Not what I meant Lu. There's more to it than that." Lu turned back to him, eyebrows furrowed._

" _What else could there possibly be?"_

That was the most direct he ever got with her. Later, he realized that she wasn't ignoring him, and she wasn't thickheaded either(except for her theory about marriage, that _was_ rather thickheaded): because she told him about her childhood. The emotionless way the girl had described all the horrors that had befallen her when she was young broke his heart, but it all made sense. She couldn't bare to consciously admit that she cared for anyone, because everyone that was supposed to have loved her when she was little had been ripped away from her. Her subconscious had made a connection between love and pain.

However,it was obvious that she loved the all the Pevensie's, including him, but she didn't seem to realize that.

Over the next two days, Lu became increasingly frantic. She hadn't been without the Pevensie clan for this long since she had been trapped in that cave, and even then she had Susan, boring and dull as the girl was (sometimes). The residents of the castle tried to cheer her up, but she just growled and went on being sulky.

Lu sat on her bed, glaring at her dresser as if it had offered her some deeply personal insult.

***tap tap* **Someone knocked on her door.

" Come in." came the listless reply. The door opened.

" Lady Lu? I think you need to take a look at this." came the gruff voice of a centaur guard

" I'm coming." Could they be back? Lu heaved herself off the bed and trotted after the centaur.

" What is it?"

" Well, we're not entirely sure... but it isn't good." Damn centaurs, always so vague. Surely they must have some idea? One thing was for sure though, it couldn't be the Pevensies. Lu's mood darkened even more as they reached the battlements and strode toward a group of fawns and centaurs in battle amour.

" Oh good, you got her." Sighed one of the fawns. They all looked relieved. Dang, things must be pretty bad for them to actually want her around. Since the kings and Queens left she'd been biting the head off of anything that moved in her line of sight. Bad mood does that to a girl.

" What is it?" asked Lu for the second time.

" My lady, look at the the ocean and tell us what you see. We are not sure yet." A centaur pointed to the horizon. Lu's intense green gaze followed his arm. What she saw made her hold her hand over her heart in an old elven gesture for protection.

Floating on the ocean were hundreds of black sailed ships. This was why Lu had been opposed to having the castle on the ocean. Who could think of a more vulnerable place to put a castle than on top of a dormant volcano? That's right, Aslan could. Sure the crystal clear water was gorgeous, but it was a miracle no fleets had threatened the castle before now. Lu cursed under her breath. There had to be an army of thousands to need that many ships.

" What do you think lady?"

" It's got to be some sort of conquering force, I can see catapults on the ships."

" But what is such a force doing in Narnia? This is a peaceful land."

" I have no idea, maybe some sort of mass migration. One thing's for sure though, we don't stand a chance if they do intend to make war."

" We shall die fighting for our freedom!" Yelled one of the centaurs. Lu sighed at that extremely thickheaded statement. Being the daughter of a mad homicidal witch had somehow gifted her with excellent instincts, especially when it came to disaster. Those ships would bring more pain to her and the Narnians than anyone could imagine, she could tell just by looking at them. They would all die, fighting or not.


	4. Danger

Lu was perched precariously on top of the battlements of castle Cair Paravel, one of her eyes jammed against a spyglass that was probably made for someone at least twice her size, as it was almost longer than she was.

" Anything changed my lady?" inquired one of the fawns.

" Shh!" she hissed, trying to concentrate on holding the spyglass steady and focusing it at the same time. Who's idea had it been to make the thing so long? It was so heavy her arms were almost shaking, and they already hurt like hell.

" Maybe, lady, if you let someone a bit bigger-"

" Aha! Finally." She exclaimed in triumph as she got the darn thing to work. There were a few exasperated sighs from behind her, which she ignored.

" What is it?" asked another fawn. " What are we dealing with?"

" Wow. There's like fifty ships, and the decks are all swarming with men in full battle armor! There must be at least a hundred people on each! "

" That's over five thousand troops!" counted a centaur. Lu mentally smirked. Look who can do math.

" That's not even the worst part!" She cried.

" What? What is it?" They all gasped in unison.

" The ships are all loaded with catapults!" The guards all groaned. Lu fell silent, pressing her eye back to the spyglass. Focusing on the lead ship, she watched the men on the deck go about their duties. They all had dark skin, coarse, curly hair, and moved like trained soldiers. What could she do? The Narnians barely had five hundred able-bodied warriors, and most of them were spread out in the forest somewhere. As she absently searched the ship, her gaze suddenly fell upon a soldier different from the others. He wasn't quite as stocky as the rest and his hair was silky, obviously an oddity among the foreign men. He stopped what he was doing and turned around, head moving as if searching for something. Lu's breath quickened, it was almost as if he could feel her eyes on hi-

His gaze suddenly turned directly toward her. Eye's black as pitch, like a demon's, seemed to pierce strait through her soul. They narrowed and Lu gasped, her entire body going numb with fear. The spyglass slipped from her grasp and clattered to the stone roof. Had she still been standing on the battlements, she would have fallen to her death.

" My lady are you all right?" one of the centaurs asked as she dropped to her knees.

" Yes, I'm fine. Just fine.." she choked out.

" What happened?" Lu shook her head, needing time to process the strange occurrence. She gazed at the setting sun for a second to collect herself, then turned to the group.

" Does anyone here know anything about sailing?" she asked wearily. A fawn raised his arm. " Alright, how long do you think we have until they get here?" The fawn tested the wind.

" Not long. They definitely won't be here tomorrow, but after that I can't be sure. Could be anywhere from tomorrow night to four days from now."

" Hmm, you lot go prepare the castle for war. I want scouts to bring in the rest of our warriors from the forest, they better all be here by tomorrow! There will be a watch posted on this roof at all times. I'll take first shift. Any questions?" They shook their heads. " Good, dismissed." The guards filed back into the castle as the sun disappeared behind the horizon.

Lu sat on the battlements overlooking the ocean, finally giving in to thoughts that had been threatening to overwhelm her. Had that man really seen her? That would be impossible, there were miles upon miles of ocean in between them.

The soldier's eyes had made this entire event real for her. Before everything had seemed like a dream, like something she would wake up from soon to find that Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy hadn't really left her alone. Those eyes promised unimaginable horrors to anyone who stood in their master's path, and reminded her what war was really like. As almost none of the creatures in the fight against the White Witch had been human, she hadn't had to worry about the atrocities humans could commit against one another. Thankfully, she was the only human-ish thing in Narnia at the moment. The worst thing the humans would likely inflict upon her subjects was death. Lu cringed at the thought of what might happen to her, but she could take care of herself. Despite her small stature, she was a fierce warrior. At least in her mind.

Her thoughts went back to the eyes of the soldier. In the human world, it was said that the eyes were the windows to the soul. Anyone with a soul _that_ dark was not someone she wanted in Narnia.

" Lady Lu?" Lu jumped, falling backwards onto the roof and landing on her poor spine.

" Ow!" she rolled over and stood up, massaging her back and glaring accusingly at the young fawn standing before her. " What was that for?" she groaned.

" Um, sorry lady, but I had an idea! And I thought I should come tell you.." he trailed off, scuffing the roof with a hoof and looking fearful.

" Oh, it's fine. As long as you didn't surprise me on purpose. Anyway, what's your idea?" The fawn looked up, like he couldn't believe she was giving him a fair chance. Wow, she hadn't been _that_ mean recently, had she?

" Well, everyone's been making a fuss over those ships right?" Lu nodded. " Cause they might attack us right? But what if they don't mean us any harm? Okay, here's my plan" He stated with more confidence, picking up speed, " What if you went and found one of the griffins and got them to take you- you'd need their permission of course- you know like, fly you to the ships so that you could go and ask them what they want and if they don't want anything everything will be find and go back to normal but if they do you can come back and we can fight them and-"

" Wait! Slow down! Okay, I think I get it. But next time, try to tell me using multiple breaths. And sentences" She clapped the young fawn on the back, " Breathing, very important." she said sagely. With that parting piece of wisdom, Lu left in search of a griffin.


	5. Negotiations

Hope filled Lu's emerald eyes at the idea that all may not be lost for her Narnians as she trotted through the palace. So there was a huge, well equipped and ridiculously dangerous fleet sailing strait for them. So what? That didn't mean anything! Maybe the man with the black eyes was really a kind, gentle person and their numerous deadly weapons were for self defense.

Yeah right, but she was already giddy with hope and wasn't about to give up on the slightest chance to save her Narnians. Even if the soldiers really did want to destroy them, maybe she could talk them out of it. Bluff or something.

Losing track of where she was going, Lu tripped on a step and somersaulted down an entire staircase. Laying on her back at the bottom, she groaned and thanked her not so lucky stars nothing was broken.

" Very graceful my lady" smirked a centaur as he left the dining hall in front of her.

" Oh shut up" growled Lu. " Wait, have you seen any of the griffins around?"

" Grayclaw's in there my lady," The centaur jabbed a thumb back at the doors to the dining hall, " he was just finishing his dinner when I left." Lu beamed, bruises from the staircase forgotten.

" Thank you!"

" No problem lady." Lu rushed through the doors, nearly colliding with the huge feathery mass just inside the dining hall.

" Oh, sorry my lady, didn't see you there!" The griffin Grayclaw stepped back quickly, afraid to bump into the vicious, tiny creature before him.

" It's fine" stated Lu. " Listen, will you come with me? There's a plan I want to run by you."

" Having to do with the ships lady?"

" Yeah, a lot to do with that. Come on." Lu explained the young fawn's plan to Grayclaw as they walked back to the roof.

" And I think it's a good idea." She finished as they strode out onto the rooftop. " What are you lot doing up here?"A group of guards was once again congregated on the roof. Lu recognized the young fawn standing in their midst.

" We're here to see you off safely, lady." Exclaimed the young fawn. " And we made you this." He handed her a white bed sheet tied to a stick. The words ' We comE in Piece' had been sloppily scrawled on one side. " It's a peace flag, so they don't try to shoot you down with their catapults!" Lu took the flag. Aw, fawns couldn't spell and correctly use capital letters to save their lives ( or hers, in this case), but they sure were sweet.

" You guys, this is great! Thank you so much!" The guards looked slightly taken aback by her reasonable behavior. What was with them? " Well Grayclaw, are you in?" The huge bird nodded.

Lu climbed gingerly onto Grayclaw's back, being very careful not to tug out any of his feathers. Suddenly, the griffin's enormous wings started beating and the ground fell away.

" Ah!" her bloodcurdling screech echoed in her own ears. She almost dropped the white flag thing in her terror. Looking down, Lu realized that about half the castle had come up to the roof and witnessed her awkward take-off. She buried her face in the feathers of Grayclaw's back. Feeling Grayclaw's body vibrate, she looked up in fear. What was going on? Fear turned to indignation as she realized the great bird was laughing at her. Some fearless leader she was.

About half an hour into the flight, the ships were getting dangerously close and Lu was wondering how exactly they were going to land. All of the griffin landings she had witnessed before had involved somersaulting through the air and rolling onto the ground to absorb the impact of the fall. But what about her? Surely Grayclaw had to have a better plan than that? She would be crush-

" Holy-!" Grayclaw's back disappeared from beneath her as she flew forward above the lead ship. How had they gotten there so fast? Somersaulting through the air, she managed to somehow land on her feet. Sadly, she found out why the impact absorbing role was necessary as her legs gave out from the force of her fall. Lu collapsed to her knees. Grayclay, as it turned out, had decided to abandon her and was perched on the mast, not looking even _close _to apologetic enough.

Grumbling about plucking giant bird things, Lu turned her attention to the ship's crew that she was unintentionally kneeling before. Groaning, she heaved herself to her feet. Everyone was staring at her in awe, not even noticing Grayclaw as it was almost too dark to see the mast. Guess it would be kinda weird to have some girl show up on your ship in the middle of the ocean. Oh well.

The soldiers were even more terrifying up close, but Lu stood her ground, clenching the hand not clutching the flag into a fist in defiance. They would not see her weakness or fear.

" I'm here to negotiate with your leader." She called, forcing calm into her voice. Terror raced up and down her spine as the ranks of men parted. She wondered what was going to step out.

Lu gasped and trembled when a tall man with silky black hair appeared, striding confidently toward her. It was too dark to see his eyes, but Lu knew they were blacker than the night. Panic almost caused her to drop the flag, this would not be good.

" Who are you?" he demanded, " How did you get on this ship?" His sharp, commanding voice was layered with an exotic accent she had never heard before. The coldness in it sent even more shivers down her spine. She felt like some sort of small prey fixed in place by the stare of a large predator. Too scared to stay, but too mesmerized to run away.

" How I got here does not matter. I am Lady Lucifer Jadis, present ruler of Narnia. That is this land." She made a vague gesture towards the beach, her voice betraying none of the turmoil inside her. She still didn't know if they meant any harm, right?

" You rule this land? But your just a girl!" The man stated in surprise. Lu growled, her eye's narrowed. Time to get to the point.

" What are your intentions regarding Narnia?"

" Our intentions?" Smirked the man, " Are they not obvious?" he gestured to the many battleships laden with soldiers and war machines. " We have come to destroy anything!" he took a few steps closer to her, " Conquer anything." moving closer, " Claim everything." he stopped right in front of Lu. Towering fiercely over her slight form, he murmured, " and I don't see anything stopping me from starting right now with you, girl." she could now see his merciless black eyes, and they raked her body head to toe.

Lu gasped indignantly, waving her white bed sheet on a stick.

" Oh yeah? What about this? Or do you have so little honor that you would take a prisoner carrying a flag of peace? We're negotiating." she trailed off weakly and stared at the wooden deck. Here her Narnians' lives were at stake and she was just making things worse, but the thoughts behind his predatory smirk were what she had been most afraid of.

" Well aren't you fiery" A finger was placed beneath her chin and Lu's head was tilted back to meet his iron gaze. " I can wait, I'll remember you girl."

She tore her eyes away from his and stepped away, out of his reach. Lu could feel her tough exterior crumbling. What could she do? Her Narnians were no match for this huge army and the monster that headed it. There must be a way.

" Please." She whispered.

" What was that?"

" Please!" Lu choked out. He smirked, but his eye's remained cold and emotionless." Please don't do this."

" And why not?"

" Because we've never harmed you. We are peaceful. Just, please." The word physically pained her on the way out. Lu didn't do " Please". Not ever.

" The fact that you are peaceful just makes you weak and easy to overcome. Go back to your castle girl, I'll see you again soon." Lu turned away from the terrifying black eyes, a single tear traced it's way down her cheek. The ocean roared around her. Funny, she hadn't noticed it during the negotiations.

_Oh Aslan, _Lu thought_, Now would be a great time for you to show up and scare the hell out of these guys! Pretty please? _Eh- there was that word again. Silence, she took that as a "no". Damn.

The negotiations had failed, and the fate of Narnia had been sealed. Lu looked up at the mast for Grayclaw, but he was gone. Good for nothing bird. Walking to the edge of the ship, she stepped up onto the side, holding onto a rope for balance. Looking over her shoulder, she saw the black eyed man watching her. His eyebrows were furrowed, the first real display of emotion she had seen from him. Lu thought she saw him start running toward her as she slipped off the side of the ship. Hmm, that couldn't be right. Stupid overactive imagination.

Instead of hitting the water, her falling body landed lightly on the feathered back of the griffin.

" I knew you'd see me." She whispered. " Thank you." Grayclaw nodded. Lu, thoroughly exhausted by the nerve wracking encounter, fell asleep. Her nightmares were haunted with huge marching armies and demonic black eyes, all threatening her precious Narnian's.


	6. Invasion

Lu's eyes fluttered open. Groggy and disoriented, she pushed herself into a sitting position and took in her surroundings. Somehow, she had ended up in her own bed. The last thing she could remember was flying on Grayclaw. Then memories of the battleship fleet came back to her.

Frantically jumping out of bed and throwing on some fresh clothes, she looked at the window and surmised that she had only been asleep a few hours, as it was still night. Had anything happened when she was out? How were the battle preparations going? Grayclaw had probably told everyone that the negotiations failed by now. She wondered what they were doing.

Racing out of her room and down a quiet corridor, Lu decided the best place to check was the roof. Racing up the stairs, she arrived at the top of the castle in record time. Not bad for someone who had been asleep forty seconds ago.

As she slammed open the doors to the roof, her eyes immediately started searching in the direction of the ships. Sadly, it was much too dark for her to see anything. By the light of a lone lantern, she could tell that no one was standing guard. Why would that be? She had specifically ordered at least one lookout to be posted at all times. Lu stepped away from the lamp cautiously into the dark parts of the roof.

" Guards!" She called softly. " Are you out here?" hearing no reply, she started to walk around the dark roof. Her elven eyes could see better in the dark than most other creatures, but it was still difficult and dangerous. Reaching the far corner of the roof, she was about to turn back when she heard muffled voices coming from a few feet away. What could that be?

Lu pulled out a pair of long hunting knives. The hilts had patterns of leaves and grape vines in gold filigree; in the place of bunches of grapes there were clusters of small, round amethysts. Rubies would have been more Narnian, but they had been a gift from Aslan and she had not questioned his choice.

Stalking toward the source of the whispers, she listened carefully. The whispers were not getting more frantic as she drew closer, nor had they gone quiet, a sign that she hadn't been noticed.

She narrowed her eyes, trying with all her might to focus on what was in front of her. The dark blurry shapes were too indistinct for her to tell what manner of creature was before her. Lu decided to take a chance.

" What are you doing?" She called. There were a few yells, and then darkness filled her vision and consciousness. Damn, bad choice, was her last thought.

Thankfully, Lu came to with some remembrance of her situation, and kept her eyes closed. She had her hands and feet tied together, but the bindings were surprisingly loose. Didn't these people know how to tie someone up? If one of her Narnian's had tied an enemy up like this she would have screamed herself hoarse at them. Suddenly, she heard voices from above her.

" What are we going to do? We can't kill her like we did the guards!"

" And why the hell not?"

" You idiot! Can't you tell? This hair is red! I'm sure her eyes are green too."

" What's that got to do with anything?" As one creature stumbled around cursing the other's ignorance, Lu surmised that they were soldiers from the warships because of their strange accents.

" Don't you remember the king's orders?" growled one after he was done having a fit.

" You mean besides the ones he gave to take the tiny speed boat along the coast so we could sneak up on the castle and kill all the guards, while the rest of the fleet put up their extra sail so the night wind would have them here by sunrise? There was more than- OW! What was that for?"

" Why not tell her the whole plan while your at it!" Hissed the angry soldier.

" She's still knocked out! There was no need to be violent!"

" Shut up! Anyway, the king's messenger hawk _also_ said that if we were to see a girl with red hair and green eyes we were not to touch her!"

" Or what?"

" What do you think! This is King Caspian we're talking about here."

" ...Oh right. And you think this is the girl?"

" Well yeah!"

" Why would the king order something like that?" Lu could almost hear the other soldier smirking.

" Why do you think?" he asked in a voice laden with insinuations.

" ..Oh. But why her? She's the enemy! And she's pretty young."

" Look at her! She'll be a right beauty when she's a bit older. At least prettier than any girl I've ever seen!"

" But we have so many women already with us!"

" I heard a rumor that the king's bored of all our women. Thinks they're all just sluts that care more about his power and position than him. I heard he's lonely now. In an angry, kingly kind of way.." As the men's discussion trailed off, Lu was deep in thought. Of course all this nonsense about her being beautiful and the king being lonely was wild speculation, probably completely unfounded. She couldn't imagine those merciless black eye's ever feeling anything besides hatred, let alone loneliness! The orders were definitely to capture her because she was the leader of the enemy and would therefore make a very valuable prisoner.

Lu went rigid in horror as she thought about the king's plan. The ships must have been almost to the castle by now! She had to warn her Narnians!

Discreetly working her hands out of their bindings, she cracked open her eyes. Sunrise must have been only an hour away, because the sky was already starting to lighten. Looking at her captors, she almost sighed in relief to see that their backs were turned to her. Sitting up, she quietly untied her feet.

Lu looked around for her knives. Where could they possibly be? She stood up silently, the soldiers were still unwittingly looking out at the ocean, their backs to her. Seeing her knives lying on top of the battlements, she almost burst out laughing. What kind of soldiers were these? Maybe they had never fought a female before and were just seriously underestimating her. Lu carefully picked up her knives. Creeping up behind the soldiers, she ran one through and jumped on the others back, holding one of her blades to his throat.

" Ah, what the-! Please don't kill me!" Lu looked at him in disgust, slitting his throat. Searching the soldiers, she found an important looking scroll. It read:

_Soldiers_,

_The monarch of the castle came to negotiate around sunset. The land we are conquering is called Narnia, and apparently its inhabitants are peaceful, so it shouldn't be too difficult. I and the rest of the fleet will be there around sunrise, so start executing the plan immediately. There is a girl in the castle with flaming hair and emerald eyes. If any of you touches her, I'll kill you._

_King Caspian_

Lu dropped the parchment in fear, as if the malice of it's writer could physically hurt her. The sun had now risen enough for her to almost see clearly, and she yelped as she looked at the ocean. The warships, once tiny dots in the distance, were now only a few hundred yards from the rocky cliffs of the castle! Some had even started turning toward the beach, while others had men swarming around the catapults, obviously prepping them for use. Sadly, it was still probably too dark for any of the Narnians to be able to see what was going on and sound the alarm. And she still had no idea how the battle preparations were going.

Lu promptly ran back into the castle and started sprinting down the stairs, screaming her head off.

" Attack! Attack! Those bloody soldiers are bloody attacking us! Get the hell up or you'll all be killed!" Echoed through the castle as Lu went completely berserk, growling like a caged lioness and slashing at the air with her hunting knives.

" Calm down lady!" a centaur cantered toward her, and she realized she was in the entrance hall.

" Calm down? Never tell a woman to calm down! Especially not right now! They're here! We've only got minutes!" Taking a deep breath, Lu calmed herself down and went into commander mode. " Look out the window soldier." The centaur did, and gasped. " See?" she asked. He nodded. "Good, glad we got the straitened out."

Lu started screeching orders and pretty soon she had the entire force of Narnians assembled in the entrance hall, fully equipped and ready for battle.

" Here's the plan" She yelled. " They-"

Suddenly the castle shook. Debris rained down from the ceiling as a huge stone crashed through the roof. The front doors burst open and soldiers poured into the entrance hall.

" Damn" Lu cursed and raised her knives. Using her superior elven reflexes, she started cutting down soldiers left and right. Her short stature even came in handy as no one noticed her slipping between the taller men, they were all so focused on the huge centaurs.

So caught up was Lu in fighting like a wildcat, she almost turned around and cut the head off of a centaur as he picked her up and dropped her on his back.

" What are you doing? Put me down right now!" Lu raised her knives threateningly, eyes clouded with the madness of combat.

" Snap out of it lady! I'm taking you somewhere safe. If you are killed or captured, the fight will be over and the soldiers will have won! You can't let that happen, now stay here." He dropped her in a deserted corridor and cantered back to the battle. Fuming, Lu growled and glared after him. Who was he to treat her like a little girl? Who was in charge around here?

Slowly her thoughts became less distorted and more reasonable. What could she do to help without fighting? Word had probably already spread through the Narnians that she was not allowed to join in the battle. Then she remembered that not all of the creatures in the castle were warriors. If, or when, the warriors were overcome, they would be left defenseless. And the castle was coming down anyway, she was reminded as the stones around her shuddered. There must be a way to get them out..

As the entire castle started to shake and walls started to crumble, Lu ran down every staircase she could find until she came to the cellar. Calm quiet enveloped her, as no one was down here yet. She turned and put her hands on one of the dirt walls. Sometimes, when they were really focused, elves could get something tangible to happen with their magical will. Seeing as Aslan was making her go solo in dealing with the destruction of Narnia, he definitely owed it to her to let this work.

She pushed on the dirt, with both hands and mind, almost screaming from the effort she was exerting. Lu had never tried using magic before. Suddenly, dirt shot away from her hands and she fell forward, stumbling into a tunnel. In the dim light of the cellar, she could just make out the dirt at the end of the tunnel continuing to move back. Lu had no idea where the tunnel would lead when it was done, but hopefully it would be somewhere safe. Anything was better than staying in a collapsing castle surrounded by soldiers.

Lu ran out of the cellar and smashed into a centaur, which hurt quite a bit.

" You!" she shouted, ignoring the pain, " There's a tunnel down there, get everyone who isn't fighting out!" The centaur nodded.

The castle was really coming down now, great chunks of the walls and ceiling were tumbling to the ground. As Lu watched her home falling apart, rational thinking deserted her and she started walking though the castle with no known destination. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she knew she should get out, but her feet seemed to have developed minds of their own. A functional Lu would have found this slightly alarming.

Her destination became clear as she found herself at the entrance to the throne room. The roof and walls were crumbling, and Edmund's throne had been reduced to rubble. Seeing the once magnificent place being destroyed was heartbreaking. Here was her entire life lying in shattered pieces before her eyes. Again. Peter, Susan, Edmund, Lucy, even Aslan had abandoned her. Lu's green eyes focused on Peter's throne and a dry sob escaped her lips. He had always been there for her, ever since that day in the train station. Was history really dooomed to repeat itself every time she got attached to something?This was just like what had happened to her when she was little!

The castle gave the loudest shudder yet as the center caved in. Lu let out another tear less sob. No!

**Caspian I**

Caspian stood on the beach in full battle armor, bloodied sword in hand. Having recognized the signs of a castle on the verge of collapse, he had ordered his troops to retreat. Now he stood back, cold black eyes watching the castle crumble with his soldiers standing outside all the exits, waiting for anything attempting to escape.

" My lord." someone came up behind him, and he recognized the voice.

" Yes General?" Caspian asked without turning away from the spectacle of destruction.

" Nothing has come out, we must have got them all in the first rush."

" I saw many more of those monsters than we have killed so far, they must have escaped." The general blanched at the pure malice in his king's voice as he spoke about the strange creatures that lived in the castle. It was plain as day that he hated them more than most of their other enemies.

Caspian's grip on his sword tightened murderously, if the creatures had escaped, then the girl must have too...

" My lord!" The voice of a commander joined the general.

" Yes?"

" A scouting party found the opening of a tunnel in the forest, they said it looked freshly dug. Then those creatures started coming out of it, mostly women and children. We've killed them all sir, on your orders."

" Very good." Caspian turned around, both general and commander flinched at the bloodthirsty gleam in his dark eyes. " Was the girl with them?"

" No sir."

" Damn!" he hissed, turning his eyes back to the collapsing castle. The general, sensing which direction his king's thoughts were headed, shook his head.

" My lord! You can't go in there, it'll collapse at any moment!"

" That, general, is the problem. _She's _in there, and the collapse will kill her."

" But my lord, she's just a girl! You could have a thousand others! Even if you do save her and come out alive, she'll hate you for destroying her life."

" I am well aware of that." Caspian's cold eyes burned through the general. He flung off his mail and armor. Turning around, he sprinted off toward the castle.

" What is it about that girl?" Wondered the general.

" She is the ruler of Narnia. Though not for long." Stated the commander.

" Really?"

" Yeah, I was on King Caspian's ship when she just turned up out of nowhere to negotiate. Didn't seem scared of him even when he was practically on top of her, just stood her ground. When negotiating failed she just jumped off the side of the ship and disappeared, no one knows how she did it. The king was about ready to jump in after her, some of the soldiers had to hold him back. You can imagine what happened to them." The commander grimaced, " Anyway, he probably just thinks she'll be a valuable prisoner as the leader of the opposition or something."

" Since when has the king ever cared about who leads his enemies? He usually just beheads them during battle. And besides, the girl's monsters are all dead."

" There could be more of them in the forest.."

" I doubt it, at least not for long."

**Lu**

Lu fell to her knees before the four thrones, tears streaming down her cheeks.

" Why did you leave me!" She screamed at them, " I thought you were my family! I need you." she whispered the last bit, having never admitted to needing anyone before. It felt strange. Through her tear-filled vision, she could see gaping holes in the ceiling and walls, a pillar collapsed behind her. "Why?" she choked. Walking up to Peter's throne, Lu collapsed into it. " I think,.. I _loved _you_!" _she wrapped her arms around the back of the throne and sobbed. " Please help me." She gasped.

Suddenly, arms like steal cables wrapped around her waist and she was pulled away into an iron embrace. Her face pressed into someone's chest.

" P-Peter?" she looked up and her gaze was met by fathomless black eyes, silky dark hair, and the face of a fallen angel. Upon seeing her tear-filled eyes, Lu thought she saw some emotion cross his face, but it was gone so quickly it must have been an illusion. Too strong for her to fight off, he picked her up and walked through one of the gaping holes in the stone wall. Lu got a last glimpse of the four thrones over his broad shoulder before the roof caved in completely. " Goodbye." she whispered.


	7. Genocide

**Caspian I**

Caspian walked up the beach, still carrying the girl. A few commanders and medics scurried up to him, looking concerned, but he just waved them off. Reaching a grassy hilltop, he gently laid the her down. A group of soldiers near the trees gazed in wonder at their ruler's strange behavior. They hadn't seen him that careful with something since, well, never actually.

The girl seemed to be unconscious, probably from shock. As Caspian gazed at her strange features, he thought about why he was going through so much trouble to keep her safe. Ever since he had been little, and learned what love was, he had known that the women of Telmar were not for him. Love was supposed to be a thing between equals, two people of similar strength and spirit. He had quickly discovered that none of the women of Telmar were very brave, or very strong willed. During his conquests of other countries' land, he had secretly hoped that he would find someone worthy of his affections. Sadly, the girls of other countries had been even weaker willed than those of Telmar.

Reaching out, Caspian ran the back of his hand along the girl's jawline. After seeing her, all of his worries about finding a woman had evaporated. When she had first tumbled onto his ship, he thought she had been sent by the gods themselves! He had known immediately from her stance that she was extremely stubborn, not to mention a skilled warrior. Baiting her during the negotiations and watching her discomfort had been entertaining to say the least. Eventually, she even fought back! That had never happened to him before. The mere sight of his eyes was usually enough to turn his enemies' leaders to quivering heaps begging for their lives, but not this girl. She was fiery, like her beautiful hair. When she had jumped into the sea he had been furious, and even a little scared, for the first time in his life. What if she were hurt? Then he had remembered that she would be fighting his army, and had become even more worried. Anything could happen during a battle, and his troops did get a little overenthusiastic at times. Sending out the order that no one was to touch her hadn't eased his fear much.

Now that she was in his grasp, Caspian could finally be content. He would do whatever it took to keep her, and make sure she was safe.

**Lu**

Lu eased back into consciousness so slowly she almost got bored and fell asleep again, which was extraordinary considering her extremely stressful circumstances. When she finally had control over her entire mind again, she sat up and glared around her. Where was she? And how the hell had she gotten there? Looking at the castle, she realized it had collapsed and groaned. There were still soldiers all around it.

" Are you hurt?" the deep voice with the exotic accent came from behind her. Lu jumped and whirled around, her eyes widening in fear as she took in the black eyed king.

" _Why_ do _you_ care?" Before he could reply, movement in her peripheral vision caught her attention. A group of soldiers were filing out of the forest, swords glistening with fresh blood. One of them was dragging a small furry object.

Noticing what she was looking at, Caspian quickly moved to try and block the terrible sight from her view, but he was too late.

" Is that a... a _baby satyr?_" Lu glared at him in utter horror. Her hands closed around the hilts of her hunting knives. " You killed them! _All_ of them!" She screeched, slashing at Caspian, but he ducked. This only fueled her anger. " They were running away! Even the children! Oh Aslan they're _all dead!_ Murderer!" Caspian pulled out his sword to keep her from stabbing him. " I hate you!" Lu's vision was blurred by the tears now pouring out of her eyes, but she irritatedly wiped them away, continuing her blind swipes at the cause of all her misery. He knocked one of the knives out of her grip with a careful stroke of his sword, then grabbed the wrist of her other hand. Dropping his sword, he wound his other arm around her waist and pulled her against his chest. With one knife gone and the other hand immobilized, Lu started pitifully hitting his broad shoulder with her fist. It felt like hitting a wall for all the good it was doing.

She sobbed heart brokenly into his chest, still hitting him. " It's all my fault." She whispered. Caspian sighed and wrenched the other knife from her small hand. His breath tickled her hair. They stayed like that for a few minutes, while her mind was falling further and further into a pit of despair.

Lu was suddenly drawn out of her depressing thoughts by a completely random and irrelevant idea having nothing whatsoever to do with the present situation.

The Pevensies had disappeared while on a hunt a few miles to the east of Cair Paravel, right? And what was to the east of Cair Paravel? The lamp post! Maybe the portal had been open and they had gotten through? That had to be it. She was still angry at them for abandoning her, but at least she knew they were safe.

Exerting more force than she probably had ever done in her life, Lu wrenched herself out of Caspian's arms and dropped to the ground. Grabbing the knife that was laying in the grass, she somehow she evaded Caspian's iron grip as he reached out to grab her and launched herself into the forest. With inhuman speed, she sprinted through the trees. The crash of the ocean faded into silence as she ran through pools of light filtered by the leafy canopy and tainted with green.

**Caspian I**

Caspian swore as he watched the girl escape into the forest. How the hell could she run so fast?

" Bring me my horse!" He called to the group of army commanders that had come over to see what was wrong, and they scurried off to do as he ordered. Caspian sighed as he searched the woods for any sign of her red hair. Now he would have to track the girl down and that would take who knew how long. She was fast, but she couldn't outrun a horse. His generals would have to handle things without him for a while.

Mounting the huge black horse that was brought to him, Caspian rode off in pursuit of the girl that had quickly become the most precious thing in his life.

**Lu**

Gasping for breath, Lu stumbled to a stop and sat down between the roots of a huge tree. Listening hard for anyone that might have caught up to her, she was rewarded with dead silence. After a short break, she hopped up and started trotting through the woods. The lamp post had to be around here somewhere.


	8. Monster

**Lu**

A tall black object was suddenly distinguishable from the murky green of the forest. Lu paused, the place held so many memories. Blinking, she gasped as suddenly the entire landscape was covered in a thick layer of snow. The illusion vanished as quickly as it came.

Treading forward slowly, she reached out to tentatively place one hand on the lamppost. The surrounding forest kept switching between snow coated white and leafy green, she half expected Edmund to jump from behind a tree and chuck a snowball at her, before being tackled to the ground by Peter.

Sighing, she rested her forehead against the lamppost for a minute, then stepped back, shaking her head to clear it of all the memories. Turning around, she began to search the clearing for the opening to the human world.

The sun was dangerously close to the horizon and Lu still had not found the portal. Her level of panic rose with each passing second. She cried out in frustration.

_You are not a creature of their world, you belong in this one._ The distinctive voice of her lion protector spoke inside her mind.

_Dammit Aslan let me through! There's nothing left for me here! _She tried to make her thoughts as forceful as possible. What was she going to do? Every second she remained in Narnia reminded her of the second destruction of everything that she loved. And there was no way she could ever be safe while in the same world as the black eyed king.

Lu broke down sobbing, clutching the lamppost like a lifeline. She seemed to be spending a lot more time doing things like crying and saying please recently. Before the Pevensies left, she could have counted the number of times a sob or the word please had passed her lips on one hand, and still had plenty of fingers left.

She sank to the ground, still holding onto the lamppost for dear life (or not so dear recently, as fate would have it). Had she been paying attention to her surroundings and not wasting time crying, she would have heard the quiet footsteps behind her.

**Caspian I**

Caspian rode determinedly through the dense forest. The girl could not escape him, not when he had spent so many years searching for someone like her.

Seeing a clearing up ahead, he slowed his horse and dismounted. Hearing the now familiar sound of the girl's sobs, he stepped quietly into the clearing. There she was, distinctive fiery curls trailing down her back. She was facing away from him, but he could picture her crystal green eyes filled with tears. He wondered if she usually cried this much, because if she did, it would _not _be good for his nerves. The sound of her sobs made him feel something he had never felt before-guilt- and he did not like it.

What was that thing she was holding onto? It was black and metal, with some sort of light on top. It seemed special to her, seeing as she had gone to it in her time of greatest despair. Resisting the urge to go over and pull her into his arms, Caspian stepped into her line of sight.

" What are you doing?" He murmured. She ignored him and went on sobbing.

**Lu**

Lu was almost too distraught to care that she had been caught again. She avoided the king's gaze as he burned a hole through her with his cold black eyes. Drying her tears and swallowing her sobs, she finally turned to Caspian.

" What are you doing here?" he looked concerned at the state of her voice, she did sound as if she had been crying for hours. Wait, why would he care?

" I came to find you."

" Why?"

" You are the leader of my opposition, it would hardly wise to let you escape." His words confirmed her original thoughts, but at this point they didn't make much sense.

" What opposition? You slaughtered everyone-" Her rant was cut short by a quiet snort from just behind her. She whirled around and her gaze was met by a small chestnut horse. Recognizing it as Susan's, she called out to it.

" What are you doing here?" The horse nickered and trotted toward her. Lu reached out to stroke it's nose. " Good girl" she crooned, " What's that on your saddle?" Reaching out and unhooking the object, she realized it was Susan's horn.

Holding the precious object like it would disappear at any moment, she had to restrain herself from blowing it right then and there. The kings and queens, her friends, deserved more time in the world they were supposed to be living in. But what would she do with the horn? The temptation to see her family again was too great for her to resist forever, but she had to make sure it stayed safe. Lu turned to the man that had moved to stand right behind her.

As her gaze met his, Lu gasped. Caspian's dark eyes were burning with passion and something she didn't recognize as he glared down at her. The intensity of it made her hands shake with fear, and she hid them and the horn behind her back, hating to show any weakness. He reached up and brushed the back of his hand across her cheek. Terrified and confused, she backed away. Seeing this, Caspian growled and stalked toward her, driving her back even farther. Panic clouded Lu's brain as her back hit a tree, still holding the horn behind her, she tried desperately to think of a way to escape. Her remaining knife was down her boot, and reaching it now was out of the question.

As Caspian reached her, he put his hands on the tree on either side of her head, caging her in. He leaned over possessively, towering above her and completely obscuring her from outside view. Lu was hyperventilating as his head bent closer to hers, their foreheads touching. She stared fearfully into his black eyes, flattening herself against the tree. Then she had an idea, distraction! She pulled one of her hands out from behind her back and squeezed it and the horn in between them.

" Whats this?" His voice was husky, and a little annoyed at the interruption.

" It's a horn." She choked out, trying not to let the fear into her voice.

" And why is it between us?" He sounded angry, Lu flinched.

" Um, cause I need you to keep it..?" It came out like a question, but suddenly she realized that this was a great idea. Of course! She could have someone keep the horn for her! Now all she had to do was convince him to take care of it. Faced with this new mission, Lu's fear evaporated. She looked deep into Caspian's eyes, their foreheads once again pressed together. "Please, if you have any respect for the lives you have taken, any respect for me. Keep this safe, no matter what happens." She leaned forward so their bodies were pressed against each other, Caspian's breathing became ragged. " Promise me." She whispered.

" I promise" He took the horn and clipped it onto his belt. Lu smiled up at him, but apprehension flooded her mind. What if something happened to the horn? Was entrusting it to her enemy really a good idea? Curse her and her quick decision making, now there was nothing to do but live with the consequences. Oh well, this was still better than keeping the horn.

" Thank you" Before he could trap her against the tree again, she danced away and stood out of his reach. On her face was an angelic smile, though her eyes were cold and hard with hatred. Time for some answers.

" What was that?" She gestured to the tree she had been pinned just a few seconds ago.

" I'm sorry, I guess I just lost control."

" Control of what?" He smirked. She grimaced.

" So those soldiers were right...?" Lu wondered to herself, fear returning.

" About what? What soldiers?" He was moving toward her carefully, trying to keep her from running off again. There was apprehension in his eyes.

" Some of your soldiers captured me, it doesn't matter. Anyway, my people are dead. You've won. Can I go now? Why are you chasing me?"

" Isn't it obvious? I want to keep you." Lu gasped. This could _not_ be happening.

" This can't be happening!" she hissed. Caspian took another step toward her. She backed away further. " You believe you could -? Like I would-? I think not. I _hate_ you! You destroyed my life! Stay _away_ from me!" Shrieking at him, tears of anger filled her eyes. Lu's vision was clouded with red, how could he even think-? " You _MONSTER_!" She turned and sprinted away, desperate to be as far from him as possible.


	9. Resistance

_**Finally at the present:**_

By the time Lu was done reliving everything that happened after the kings and queens had deserted Narnia, the sun had risen just above the horizon, reflecting the light of day off her pond. Pushing herself to her feet, she gasped at the protest of her stiff legs and vowed to never sit down again.

Obviously, life could never go back to normal. Her main concern now was helping the Narnians reclaim their kingdom. Something would have to be done about the Telmarines. It was just like overthrowing the White Witch, right? Except the Telmarines were a lot more powerful and she was all by herself. How was one girl supposed to bring down an entire army? Well if anyone could do it, it would be Lu. That was for sure.

Maybe there were creatures still out in the forest when the Telmarines attacked? If anyone had survived the battle, they would have gone to Aslan's How. No one from outside Narnia would know about it, and it was very defensible.

Lu turned and started jogging in the general direction of the How. How much worse could this get? Just as the thought entered her head, a drop of rain landed on her nose. She squeaked and looked up at the sky to see a whole herd of drops falling toward her. Oh the irony.

Actually, Lu really loved the rain. Spreading her arms, she reached up towards the sky and let out a cry of joy. Finally something was going right! The rain would wash away her tracks so she wouldn't lead anyone to the How.

Lu walked for hours. The rain had already soaked through her clothes and she looked like she had just stepped out of the ocean fully dressed.

Suddenly, the shouts of men and heavy footfalls of horses could be heard through pitter patter of the rain. She stopped and flattened herself against a tree. The shouts were growing louder, and if she looked around the tree she could see a group of soldiers headed strait for her. Was fate dead set on getting her killed? Lu could run very fast, but galloping horses would still catch her. If she tried to run now they would see her. She sank to the ground and curled up in a ball, trying to be small and unnoticeable. Her hand slipped down into her boot and grasped the hilt of the hunting knife.

The voices were getting seriously loud, and she was trying to melt into the bark behind her. Then there were soldiers riding by either side of her tree, so close she could reach out and touch them if she wanted to. As the men rode forward, it seemed she would go unnoticed when one of the soldiers glanced backwards and spotted her. Damn.

He shouted to the others and they all turned their horses around. The air was filled with shouts of " Fire hair!" and " We found her!". She had a nickname. Cute. Lu scowled. If she tried to run, they would either catch her or she would lead them to the How. She pressed her back against the tree and glared at the men riding toward her. They surrounded her tree with their horses.

" Well well well, look what we have here boys." the leader smirked. " So this is the little strumpet that caught the kings eye. He will be _very_ pleased to see you again." The sick smile on his face made Lu feel queasy. " You'll soon learn never to run away from his majesty again girl. Though I can't imagine _how_ he'll punish you." His voice was layered with hidden meaning. Lu's eyes widened in terror. Oh no...

" Seize her!" Two soldiers dismounted and started towards her. Before they could grab her arms, she whipped out her knife and spun in a circle, slashing the throats of both men. One of them bent over choking, and she sprung lightly onto his back, using it as a springboard to jump onto his horse. She then proceeded to hop from horse to horse, stabbing the riders as she went. One of the soldiers fell out of his saddle in fear, and she launched herself onto his back as he stood up, holding her knife at his throat.

" What are you doing in the forest?" She growled.

" Search party. The king sent them out to look for you!" He gasped

" Why?"

" I don't know! You must be important to him somehow! Please don't kill me!"

" So your not here to search for Narnians?"

" No, our orders were only to find you."

" Okay, now go back to your king. Tell him that Lucifer Jadis is going to make him pay for destroying everything, and that anyone he sends into the forest will die." She slid off his back and pushed him forward. He started running, hopefully to make it back and deliver her message. Looking down at the corpses littering the ground, Lu cleaned her knife on the grass and sighed. Killing was something she absolutely had no problem doing, probably because of her excellent childhood. She would kill a thousand men if it meant saving the life of even one Narnian. With that depressing thought, she continued on toward the How.

The sun was already low in the sky when Lu finally reached the small mountain that housed Aslan's How. When the Pevensies had first arrived and fought the battle against the White Witch, Aslan's table had been above ground. Since then, the Narnian's had built a sort of temple to protect the place. Now the table was underground. She had never thought about it before, but the temple would make a very good fortress.

She approached the great entrance warily, keeping her eyes and ears open for any signs of a threat. Slipping inside, she hugged the wall and moved quietly. There was no one inside that she could see. Lu tip-toed down a tunnel hallway. Everything was so silent. What if none of the Narnians had survived? She was scared stuffin'-less by the thought. She couldn't be the only creature left alive in Narnia besides the Telmarines. It would drive her mad.

So lost was she in her depressing thoughts, Lu didn't notice what was standing right in front of her. Suddenly, she bumped into something tall and alive.

" AAAAHwhatthehell!" Her screaming scared the satyr so much he started yelling in surprise as well. They both stood there screaming at each other until more Narnians filed out of the hall and shook them out of it.

" Lady Lu! Lady Lu!" They all cried at once, " What happened? How did you survive?"

" Wait wait, what? You don't know? Where were you guys?"

" We were in the forest on patrol. When we got back the castle was rubble and swarming with soldiers!" A centaur spoke up. Lu proceeded to explain the entire situation to them, starting with the disappearance of the kings and queens. They were devastated to hear about all their dead comrades.

" How many made it here?" Lu asked.

" There's more asleep further in. New creatures come in every day, as soon as they find out about the Telmarines they end up here. Lucky we have this place, isn't it?"

" Quite. Anyway what do you guys want to do?"

" What do you want us to do? Lady Lu, you give the orders around here." Hah! Doesn't seem like it, thought Lu, remembering the centaur who wouldn't let her fight the Telmarines during the battle. Stupid overprotective * grumble grumble*. Yes, she was still mad about that.

" Lady Lu, why are you mumbling to yourself?" asked a concerned looking satyr.

" Well you guys, we have two options." Lu completely ignored him and switched to her speech voice, stepping up onto a bench. " We can either be driven out by the Telmarines and leave Narnia. Or, we can stay here and form a rebellion."

" Rebellion!" shouted the Narnians. Of course.

" If that's what you want. But I'm warning you, we will not be able to take back Narnia for many lifetimes. None of you will be alive by the time we succeed."

" Narnia is our home, we will fight so that one day, our children or our children's children can live freely here!" A centaur announced.

" Alright alright! Here's the plan. We will defend the woods, and pick off any soldiers that dare to come in here. We know this forest better than any Telmarine, and eventually they will be too scared to even come close to it. Then we will be safe, and have more space to build up strength. I want you all to practice with bows, which we can steal from the Telmarines. We will have to be able to slaughter whole groups of men without leaving any survivors, and more importantly, without being seen. If no one ever sees any of us, eventually we will become a legend, and our existence will be forgotten. Then the element of surprise will be ours." The Narnians all nodded, accepting the wisdom of this plan.

Lu stepped wearily off of the bench and trotted to the room of Aslan's stone table. As she passed the pictures of the Pevensies, she ran her hand over them. Tears filled her eyes as she came to the one of Peter standing in front of his throne. Climbing on top of the cracked stone, she sat there and stared at the carving of Aslan on the wall.

_Oh Aslan, why have you abandoned us?_


	10. Ambush

**A Few Centuries Later**

Blades of grass crumpled as Lu sank to the ground, rolling over to look up at the sky through a gap in the leaves. The emerald green canopy contrasted beautifully with the clear blue, and the chattering of various birds echoed around the forest. Sighing, she wondered how such a tranquil place could be the home of such hatred and evil. The landscape held no signs of the epic, violent struggle for freedom that went on within it.

Hundreds of years had gone by since the Telmarines first invaded Narnia, and Lu was the only being left from the old days. The rest of the Narnians had grown up during the dark times and knew no peace. She felt bad for them because of that, but they did make excellent warriors, having trained all their lives.

Rolling over, she started pulling up grass distractedly. Her plan to make the Telmarines afraid of the forest had worked better than anyone could have expected, but groups of soldiers were sometimes still sent in to see what they could find. It took a lot of work to make sure that any man that came into the forest died, but it was completely worth it. Now, the forest was relatively safe for the Narnians and many of them had moved out of the How and back into the woods.

Lu moaned and rolled over onto her stomach. Being bait sucked, but she always ended up lying in the middle of the forest waiting for soldiers to come and find her whenever there were any lost in her domain. This time, a whole company of soldiers were wandering around in the woods, and _she _was the one that had been drafted to lure them into the centaur's trap. Stupid Glenstorm and his stupid plans.

Suddenly, shouts floated to her ears through the trees. Finally, something entertaining to do. She rolled to her feet and stood there, waiting for the men to come closer. When they spotted her, the yelling grew louder and the horses sped up. Strange, the scouts said they had seen almost fifty soldiers, and there didn't seem to be that many here. Oh well, mistakes happen.

Lu sprinted off through the forest, being careful not to lose the soldiers. Her feet pounded against the ground as she moved through the woods with a speed that turned the surrounding trees into green blotches. Crashing into bushes and branches as the foliage grew more dense, she left the most obvious trail possible. The shouting followed behind her.

Recognizing the clearing ahead, she tripped over a tree root and tumbled to the ground. As she somersaulted into the agreed on place for the ambush, chuckles floated from the surrounding trees. Lu cursed and grumbled.

" Stupid Centaurs...bait...bet you guys couldn't walk either.." Trailing off as the noise from the soldiers got louder, she reached into her boot and grabbed her knife, just in case.

The Telmarines rode into the clearing strait for her. Oh yeah, one girl against dozens of soldiers? _Come and get me boys. _When the front soldier was almost on top of her, she shrieked the signal, and arrows started streaming from the woods. The Telmarines fell to the ground resembling porcupines. _Didn't think so. _Lu smirked, the sight of her dead enemies filling her with savage glee.

Jumping onto one of the men's horses, she guided it out of the clearing, followed by the centaurs.

" Excellent work my lady." Praised Glenstorm, a hundred and seventy year old centaur father and one of her best fighters.

" Didn't even get to _do_ anything!" she grumbled angrily. " I hate being bait! But you guys did great."

" Nice fall. I give it a six. But you get a nine for the expression on your face!"

" Dammit Ironhoof! Don't make me come over there!" Lu growled at the young centaur. Glenstorm's brood was the most patronizing bunch of horse-man hybrids she had ever met. If they weren't careful, someone was going to end up getting their tail shaved off. Or worse.

They started trotting in the direction of the How. The sun was just touching the horizon, so making it back by night fall was out of the question. As it was just starting to get dark, Lu could hear a strange noise coming from behind them. She stopped her horse and strained her ears. Gasping in horror, she made out the familiar sound of men shouting and horses' hooves hitting the dirt. How could there be more soldiers? Unless- the company had split up. This was not good.

Turning around, she could just see the group of soldiers through the trees with her super elf vision. There were way to many for the centaurs to take on, especially unprepared. But she couldn't let them all die, they were her best warriors. The rebellion needed them.

Making a snap decision, Lu turned her horse around and started riding strait toward the soldiers.

" Lady Lu no!" shouted Glenstorm, but it was too late.

" You guys need to get back to the How, that's an order. I'll distract them, that way they still won't know about the Narnians!" The centaurs galloped away as she rode to meet the soldiers.

The Telmarines fanned out as she approached them and surrounded her. All of them had crossbows aimed strait for her heart. Lu glared at the circle of men, but they didn't seem like they were going to shoot her. Their expressions ranged from shock to horror to terror, and they were all staring at her. What was their problem? At least her distraction had worked. Heh, suckers.

" It can't be.." Muttered the lead soldier. " Not after.., and why now?" He stared at Lu harder, as if he could look right through her body and she would disappear or something.

" Well? Are you boys going to move so I can get through?" She demanded.

" Yeah right. What happened to the others?" Asked the leader.

" What others?"

" The other soldiers! I know you know!" He shouted. " And the ones before them and the ones before them. Are you the one that has been killing everything that enters this forest?" Lu pretended to be deep in thought.

" Alright, I know I'm so terrifying that you all will probably flee at any moment, but can you see me killing that many soldiers _by my self?_" She asked, voice dripping in sarcasm.

" What is your name girl?"

" Um, Jade." She lied. There must have been a reason for their expressions, right? Maybe they recognized her, but that was impossible. It had been Hundreds of years for Aslan's sake! But if they did, it would be really bad. Really, Really bad.

" You two, tie her up. If you try anything, Jade, you will be shot."

" What! Why? What did I do? Oppression! I demand rights!"

" You are obviously not a Telmarine, so you don't have any rights. Too bad." The soldiers bound her arms and legs together, then strapped Lu to her horse and tied it to the leader's. They started moving through the woods.

Tied to the horse and lying on her back, Lu gazed up at the light purple pre-night sky. She was spitting mad. Being captured by Telmarines was one of the worst things she could possibly imagine happening to her. An image of silky dark hair and pitch black eyes flashed in her mind and fear twinged in her stomach. At least he would be gone. She would probably just end up locked in a cell. That would be incredibly boring. Maybe she could brake out? That was a long shot.

As she watched the trees go by, tears of rage slid from the corners of her emerald eyes and into her fiery hair. Every second was taking her farther away from her Narnians. Sure Glenstorm could probably handle them for a little while, but there was no one there to plan long term strategy and make sure everyone stayed safe/unseen. Lu had helped raise practically every Narnian alive at this point, and she was seriously protective of them all.

The rope around her wrists was tight and well tied, surprisingly. That still didn't stop her from trying to squirm free, and soon her hands were raw and blood was soaking the rope. Lu bit her lip to keep from crying out in agony. How could they do this to her? Oh thats right, because they were monsters. Stupid Telmarines.

They reached the edge of the forest, and as the last tree left her field of vision, Lu felt like screaming. She really was being taken away. What a complete nightmare.

The lead soldier hopped off his horse and started leading them through the river. She was positioned on her horse so that only her feet got wet, and it felt like heaven on her torn and bloody ankles.

As they reached the other side of the river, Lu realized that it was a miracle she hadn't been captured or killed before now. Glenstorm was always telling her that she was way too reckless, and now she finally coming to the conclusion that he was right. Great, if only she could have realized that a few hours ago. _Way to go Lu._

After a few hours, Lu was completely bored and in massive amounts of pain from her wrists and ankles. She decided to try and find a way to entertain herself.

" I'm boooored." She groaned. The Leader grunted. " I'm hungry." another grunt. Well that wasn't working. Hmm. " Guess what?" * Grunt * " I killed all your soldiers." The Telmarine's back stiffened. Lu smirked, knowing she had gotten to him. " Yep, killed them all. Enjoyed it too. And you know what? One day I'm gonna kill you. And I'm really gonna have fun with it." The soldier glanced at her. " ...So now can I have some food?"

" No. And shut up!" He finally responded.

" Finally! You are not a talkative one. I'm still bored. When are we gonna get.. um.. wherever we're going?"

" Were close. Finally, you won't be my problem anymore."

" Whose problem will I be?"

" Stop asking questions!" Lu smirked.

" Yes! I can see the castle!" Exclaimed one of the soldiers. Lu gave an exaggerated sigh of relief, though inside she was terrified.

" Finally, I can get off of this stupid horse!" She wriggled in discomfort. " I wanna be able to see the castle! Untie the rope around my stomach so I can sit up." Lu ordered cockily.

" No"

" Please? You can leave the one around my legs. I won't be able to run off."

" No"

" Jerk"

Then, Lu had an ingenious idea. She started whistling. Looking at the back of the lead soldier's head, she could see the muscles in his neck start to tense up. Soon, a large vein was visible. Pretending not to notice his obvious rage and annoyance, she went on whistling the same tune over and over again. He started throwing her murderous glances, and she ignored those too.

" Stop that!" He hissed at her. Lu smirked, enjoying his crazed expression.

" You know what I want."

" Fine. Just stop whistling!" He pulled her horse up next to his and leaned over to untie her stomach. She sat up and stretched out her back, groaning.

Looking around, Lu soon spotted the castle. There was a town built on the base of a hill leading up to the edge of a cliff, where the palace stood. The huge stone thing was extremely intimidating, like something out of a horror story. But the town had lights shining through windows and looked from this distance almost like a city in England, where the kings and queens lived. She sighed at that thought. Over the years, Lu had tried to think of the Pevensies as little as possible. She could barely even remember what they looked like, and wanted to keep it that way. Remembering was too painful.

Soon they were riding through the town. Lu gazed interestedly at the windows, trying to catch a glimpse of the inhabitants of this strange place. She had never seen Telmarine women or children before, and wondered if they were as evil as the men. Maybe not, you never know.

She couldn't see much, as it was very dark, so Lu lied back down on the horse and closed her eyes. Willing herself to wake up in her bed back in Aslan's How, she trembled as her horse stopped moving. They had arrived at the palace.

A drawbridge was lowered, and a huge iron gate was raised. She had to hand it to the Telmarines, they knew how to make a defensible castle. Fear was racing up and down her spine as they trotted in through the outer wall. She watched the gate lowered behind them and a tear trickled down her cheek in defeat. Now there was no way out. No going back. No escape.

They rode into the stables and she was untied and handed to two surly looking guards. They carried her down several flights of stairs and threw her in a dungeon cell, locking the door. Her hands and feet were still tied by the rope that had worn through her skin. Blood was continuing to sluggishly ooze out of the wounds. Why didn't anyone notice? Lu felt slightly dizzy from blood loss, and knew that she would be in real trouble if someone didn't bandage her up soon. Oh well, dieing would be better than staying in this place with all these _Telmarines._

The first time Lu's life was destroyed, when she was very young, she just sort of went numb. There hadn't been anything that she could have done at the time to change the outcome of the tragic events. But the second time had filled her with an unquenchable rage. She had allowed herself to love again, and again the love had been ripped away from her. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Fool me thrice? Hell to the no.

Maybe some people were just meant to be alone.


	11. Ghost

Lu awoke to the sound of footsteps echoing around the dungeon. They seemed to rattle around in her head too, bumping into important things. Namely her brain.

The the amount of blood lost from her wrists and ankles was enough to kill a human; she was tougher than that, though not by much.

The footsteps seemed a long way off, but they were definitely headed in her direction. Lu took this time to examine her surroundings. The Telmarine dungeon was everything she had imagined it to be and more. The bars on the doors were thicker than her arms, and the place looked like it hadn't been cleaned since the dawn of time. Other cells held corpses in varying states of decay, some of which still had arms clutching the bars of their eternal prisons. All in all, the place looked like it had " Escape my foot" written all over it. Lu sighed, then gagged. Deep breathing was not a good idea. Ew. Dead people smell.

The owners of the footsteps finally reached the door to the dungeon. There was much doorknob rattling and cursing as whoever it was attempted to find the right key. Wasn't anyone competent in this place? Huh- Telmarines. Lu smirked.

When the door finally opened, a group of men filed inside and came to stand around her cell. They all stared at her looking thoughtful, stroking beards of varying lengths. Lu recognized the leader of the group of soldiers that had captured her among them. The rest of the men looked really stuck up, like lords or something. Lu tried to lift her head to glare at them, but it took way too much energy. Damn, she really needed food to make some more blood.

" Are you sure commander? Her hair looks brown from here."

" Quite sure my lord. The cell must have covered it in dirt."

" Well, this is the perfect solution! Finally, we shall have a king that can retain his sanity! We must present her to him immediately! Lord Miraz, convince the prince to see her."

" He will not be pleased. We have shown him too many girls already"

" Yes, but he still has to listen to us. We have some power, he does not yet wear the crown!"

" There is one little problem."

" What is that Lord Miraz?"

" She does not belong to a noble family."

" Well, I'm sure we can find a solution to that!"

" What about the daughters of the other nobles and lords? Doesn't this present a problem for them? I mean, they don't stand a chance with her around! Think of all the power the chosen girl's family would get!"

" That is true, Lord Scythely, but if that hasn't worked the last nine times, what makes you think it'll happen this time? Do we really want _another_ repeat of history? It's a miracle an heir was always produced in the past, we may not be so lucky this time."

" What keeps going wrong, by the way? I mean, the same thing happening over and over nine times in a row? What are the chances of that? Did that girl put some sort of curse on the family? Maybe killing her would end it.."

" It's possible, you know the story as well as I. However, killing her will just destroy the only solution we have, and it may even make matters worse. We must use this very fortunate event to save our prince's life and sanity."

" Very wise, Lord Gergiore, I will start preparations immediately."

Lu groaned. The lack of blood in her head was more painful than the worst hangover she ever had, and though she was way too confuzzled to understand the bearded guys conversation, she could tell it was about her, and it was annoying the hell out of her.

" Could you guys _please_ stop talking about me like I'm not here?" What was intended as a yell came out as a weak moan.

" Silence girl!" Barked one of the bearded men.

" Make me." She growled. They ignored her and went back to their discussion.

" What is she by the way? I mean, how is this possible?" The rest of them looked at her speculatively. There was much beard-stroking.

" You, girl, what is you name?"

" Jade."

" Are you sure?"

" Duh, it's _my_ name I think I would know it better than you guys!"

" Quite." They didn't seem convinced.

" And why, Miss Jade, were you in the forest alone?"

" Cause I'm awesome." Lu's icy green eyes glared solemnly at the man addressing her.

" The commander says you told him that you killed half his company of soldiers. Is this true?"

" Yeah, but I was lying. Can you really see me taking out that many soldiers? I was just trying to get his goat. Needless to say, it worked." She smirked at the commander, he scowled.

" I see. Well Miss Jade, you are going to be very helpful to us and this nation." What the hell?

" I'm not helping you guys!" she exclaimed sluggishly, her consciousness fading, " You like, imprisoned me for no reason! That's oppression, by the way. I demand an attorney!"

"I'm afraid you don't have a choice in the matter." The man who spoke had a pointy beard. He glared at her and she recognized him as the one the others called Lord Miraz.

" Who's gonna make me huh? You? Come and get me."

" We don't have all day men!" interrupted another bearded lord, " And that one will have to have a bath." he pointed at Lu, who shrugged. Man had a point.

They finally headed for the exit. Lu tried to sit up, and had to lean her back against the wall. Examining her wrists and ankles, she found that they had scabbed over. Sadly, the scab was stuck to the rope, so if it was taken off, the scab would be too. That was going to be a bit painful.

The doorknob to the dungeon rattled again and opened. Two guards walked in and headed strait for her cell. Opening it, they picked her up and carried her out of the room. Too weak to fight, Lu breathed a sigh of relief as the dead people smell was left behind.

They went up many flights of stairs and through many corridors until finally opening the doors to a sort of comfortably sized, luxurious sitting room. They carried her through it and opened the door to a short hallway with a few doors on the sides. Opening one, they came to a huge, majestic bedroom. Two women stood by the huge canopied bed. One was dressed in a beautiful blue gown, and the other was obviously a servant.

" Where do you want her Lady Prunaprismia?"

" On the bed please." Her voice sounded kind, but a little shaky. Lu felt the guards lay her on soft silk sheets.

**Prunaprismia**

Prunaprismia's mouth fell open in horror as her bedroom door was opened and she saw the girl being carried in by the guards. The child's arms and legs were encrusted in blood where the ropes that still bound her had rubbed away the skin. Most grown men would have passed out at the loss of so much blood, but the girls eye's were wide open and glaring around the room in defiance.

Her heart went out the the small girl lying on her bed. As soon as the soldiers were gone, she ran to the child's side.

" Sisa, go find me some bandages and some food for her." The maid scurried out of the room. Prunaprismia started undressing the girl, ignoring her weak protests.

" You need to take a bath! Look at you, covered in blood. Poor girl, what happened to you?" Taking a knife, she cut the ropes that bound the girl's hands and feet. Screams rang through the chamber as she peeled the rope away from the wounds, taking the scabs with it. Fresh blood started oozing out of the girl, but eventually her screaming died down. When all the clothes had been removed, she wrapped a towel around the girl and lifted her up. She was startlingly light. Carrying her over to the bathroom, Prunaprismia gently set her down in the bathtub. The child had stopped making any noise, but silent tears were streaming down her cheeks. The sting of hot water on the open wounds must have been unbearable.

Afraid the girl would die of blood loss, she ran to the bedroom and grabbed the tray of food from the bed where the servant had left it. Thankfully, the girl had been able to hold her head above the water without help. Setting the try on the side of the tub, she held out a fork. The girl took the fork and tried a bite of meat.

**Lu**

Lu gagged and spat the abomination out, coughing.

" What's wrong?" the woman asked.

" What is that thing?" She gasped, " My mouth feels like it's on fire!" The lady chuckled at Lu's grimace, then her expression grew serious.

" You really need to eat to replenish your blood. I bet you can't even think right now."

" Got that right, hmm. Got anything to drink that's not water? That'll help." The woman tipped some sort of strange fruit juice down her throat, and the pain in her head lessened. Then the woman started washing her hair.

" Your hair!"

" It's not falling out is it?" Lu grabbed a lock of her hair and examined it. A layer of dirt was washing off with the water, and it was changing rapidly from muddy brown to fiery red. Huh, maybe that cell floor had been dirtier than she thought. But other than that, there didn't seem to be anything wrong. She looked questioningly at the lady.

" It's...red."

" Well yeah."

" Now I see why Lord Miraz wanted to adopt you." The lady murmured to herself.

" Wait, WHAT!" Lu's eyes popped out of her skull and landed in the bathwater ( just kidding). Had that been a part of the bearded guy's conversation? " I'm being adopted!" She shrieked. The lady nodded. "Don't I get a say in this? First I'm a prisoner for no reason, now I'm being adopted by some random creepy bearded guy I don't even know! This is why I need a lawyer!" she smacked her hand down on the water, splashing it everywhere.

" Watch it, that's my husband your calling creepy." Lu's eyes grew round.

" Your husband? But you seem so nice! Wait- what about the adoption, are you okay with it?" Lu hoped she wasn't, then maybe she could prevent it from happening.

" Well, me and my husband have been trying unsuccessfully to have a child for some time now. To tell you the truth, I was ecstatic at the thought of having a daughter." Lu sighed, the lady looked so hopeful. Of course, she didn't trust the woman, she was a Telmarine. But it was shocking how comfortable Lu felt around her, and after only five minutes. If there were ever a trustworthy Telmarine, it would be this lady. It was a shame she hadn't had any children, she seemed like she would make a great mother.

" I know it's a shock, and I have no idea what your leaving behind, but they told me they found you in the forest alone. Miraz really isn't giving you a choice, the papers are already signed, but it won't be that bad. I've always wanted a girl." She sighed wistfully, "Besides, there's all kinds of privileges you get by being part of a noble family! You can live in the palace, there's all kinds of stations that you could be appointed to, we have tons of balls, hunts, picnics, and feasts, and you could even marry the prince! Not that that's very likely.

" Huh." Lu distractedly studied the wall as the lady massaged soap into her hair, obviously not listening at all. " I like you. You seem pretty nice, for a Telmarine." The woman smiled at her blunt statement. Lu felt like there was something she was missing. Hmm. That's right, hair!

" You kinda spazzed out when you saw my hair." stated Lu. The woman uhhu-ed. " Why was that?"

" Oh, it's just some old legend. Probably has nothing to do with you. Don't worry about it." And because her brain was still completely fuzzy from blood loss, Lu didn't.

Instead, she considered her current problem. On one hand, she really didn't want an adopted Telmarine family. On the other hand, being the adopted daughter of an obviously powerful Telmarine lord probably came with certain advantages. Mainly not being locked in a cell all the time. That would make escaping back to the forest easier, plus she could get info on the Telmarines that could help with the rebellion. Military techniques and stuff.

" My name is Prunaprismia." The woman murmured. Lu turned around to meet her kind gaze.

" My name is Jade." She sighed, " Thank you for taking care of me." Prunaprismia smiled.

" Any time love. That's what mother's are for." Lu grimaced

" That's going to take some getting used to."

Usually, Lu would have been full of snarky comments, especially considering being captured by Telmarines and adopted against her will. But somehow she just couldn't bring herself to be mean to Prunaprismia. The trusting nature that she had buried deep within herself was being drawn out by the Lady. Plus, her defenses were weak from lack of blood. Lu resolved to hate all the other Telmarines twice as much to make up for her kindness toward the woman.

" Do you have any parents?" Lu was surprised by the sudden question. For a second, her eyes clouded in pain at the memory of her family.

" Nope, they died a looong time ago."

" I'm sorry."

" It's fine, I don't even really remember them. My mother was a piece of work though." Prunaprismia chuckled.

" Oh my goodness!"

" What now?" Lu looked around for the source of the woman's distress.

" The water! I think it's time we bandaged you up." She was right, the water was tinted red with the blood from Lu's sores. Ew, blood water. Lu cringed.

Prunaprismia held out a towel and she stepped in to it, wrapping it around herself. They walked back into the bedroom. Lu sat down on the bed, while the lady grabbed a roll of bandages and started wrapping up her wrists and ankles. A beautiful purple dress had been laid out on the blankets, but Lu wrinkled her nose at it. Dresses were as impractical as clothes could get, mostly because it was almost impossible to fight in them.

" Eww, dress." Prunaprismia looked surprised.

" You don't like dresses? Then what do you wear?"

" Pants." Like a boss.

" Really? That's odd. I think it would be better if you wore dresses from now on. It's extremely frowned upon for young ladies to wear pants here. Sorry."

" Friggin sexist society, and they call themselves civilized!" Lu grumbled to herself, but complied and slipped the dress on. Apparently, using her impulsive and reckless decision making skills, she had decided that Prunaprismia was trust worthy. It wasn't the woman's fault for being a Telmarine. But all other Telmarines? No go. "Yes! Finally not naked." Lu exclaimed. Prunaprismia chuckled. " What? It's uncomfortable. Do you have my boots?"

" Right here. They've been cleaned up a bit." Lu felt a twinge of fear. She kept (hid) a lot of really important stuff ( mostly weapons) in/on her boots. Grabbing them from Prunaprismia, she discreetly checked that everything was still in place. Finding that nothing had been disturbed, Lu let out a sigh of relief.

Prunaprismia grabbed a hairbrush from a vanity nearby and declared war on the flaming rat's nest passing off for hair on top of Lu's head. It obviously hadn't been brushed in a few weeks, but the woman seemed to be a master of getting out knots. Soon, the fiery red hair fell in loose ringlets down her back and over her shoulders once again.

" Now _that_'s beautiful. You might actually pass for a young lady now!" Teased the Lady.

" Haha, funny." deadpanned Lu. " Now if only I _wanted _to be a lady."

" Hmm. You really do look like the girl from that legend." Prunaprismia was staring at her speculatively. " Even your eyes.."

" I'm really hungry. And I need to make more blood, but you people's food is so damn spicy!" Interrupted Lu. " Can I, like, go to the kitchen and make my own food or something?"

" Um, sure..., just be back here before sunset. There's something important we have to do then." The woman said distractedly. She seemed to be deep in thought about something. Lu bounced off the bed and trotted out of the room, having not heard the last bit of what Prunaprismia said.

Deciding the kitchen was most likely on the bottom floor, she started going down every set of stairs she could find. The castle was confusing, huge, and full of random turns. Needless to say, she would not be making it back to Prunaprismia's room without some sort of assistance. Being around the Telmarines made her extremely edgy, but she figured there was no way they would spontaneously try to kill her. Whenever one passed by, she would look at the ground. But she felt their stares on her, and used her flaming curls to hide her face.

Peeking through a set of double doors, she found some sort of empty banquet hall. Assuming the kitchen had to be somewhere nearby, Lu was just about to shut the doors when she heard angry voices from within the room. Curious, she cracked the door open further and stuck her head in. Two men stood in a corner of the room, next to a set of servant's doors. Triumphant, she realized that the servant's door would definitely lead to the kitchen. But could she make it past the two men without being seen? Lu edged herself into the room and shut the door silently behind her. Both of the men were facing away from the main door, so they were completely unaware of her presence. She moved along the wall quietly, trying not to attract notice. As she moved closer, she could here the two men's argument. One of them she recognized as Lord Miraz, but the other's features were obscured by shadows. All she could see was an extremely tall, lean frame.

" You can't! It's a suicide mission. No one has ever come back alive, including _all_ of your ancestors boy. What makes you think you can survive? That you will be any different? You think you will be the one to finally find her, but the same was thought by each and every one of your predecessors. Do not suffer their fate! Your majesty, I implore you." She recognized Miraz's voice.

" I can't do this anymore! The same dreams every night, memories that aren't even mine! They're getting worse, it's going to drive me insane. Obsessed doesn't even cover it. Now I know why none of my ancestor's could resist. I don't think I can either." The other man's voice sounded young, but strangely familiar. Tingles of fear traveled up Lu's spine. What was up with her? Maybe going around was a better option. Too late now.

" I won't let you get yourself killed like the others!" Shouted Miraz. " What about your obligation to your country! Have you no pride boy?"

" Dammit!" Raged the young man. " Don't you dare suggest that I would abandon my throne!" Lu was no further than ten feet from them, and the doors were just beyond that. The two men argued on, having no notice of the tiny redheaded girl behind them.

" Well your father did, and his father! Your all just a bunch of lovestruck fools." Hissed Miraz. There was silence for a second, she could feel the tension in the air, and the violent rage rolling off the young man in the shadows.

Suddenly, the tall young man launched himself at Miraz, who fell backwards onto the floor. They started fighting on the ground, the younger man seemed to have a slight advantage.

Lu had never been one to walk away from a fight, and decades of breaking up brawls between her Narnians had caused her to reflexively try to get in the middle of any physical conflict. Sprinting the distance between the two Telmarines, she threw herself on top of them. Landing on the back of the younger man, she wrapped her legs around his waist and locked her arms over his shoulders, preventing him from kicking or punching the old man.

" Break it up you two!" Lu commanded. Miraz saw her over the other man's shoulder and his eyes widened in shock. He ceased fighting and the young man stopped struggling, seeing the older man's expression. He stood up with Lu still on his back. Damn that must've taken a lot of strength, thought Lu. Or maybe she was just really light. Hmm.

Her extreme lack of blood caught up with her and Lu's limbs became weak without the support of adrenaline. She slid off the man's back and backed up, noticing his silky hair. Now why did that seem so familiar? He turned around to see who had tried to restrain him, and Lu was met with eyes blacker than the night. Her entire body went numb with shock and fear.

" You." she choked, jumping back a foot. The terrifying eyes mirrored her shock, minus the panic. The fallen angel features that had haunted her nightmares for centuries were right in front of her, and Lu's entire body started to quake violently. Miraz just stood there in the corner and stared at the two of them, his expression calculating. The man in front of her was still gazing down at her, completely stunned. Lu was paralyzed in fear, but she brushed curly red bangs into her face in an attempt to hide herself, staring at the floor to avoid his eyes.

Suddenly, she felt a hand like steel wrap it's fingers around her arm, and her trembling ceased. She was beyond fear. Her mind had gone completely blank, and only one thought remained. Get the fuck out.

She tried to yank her arm out of the man's grip, but he was way too strong for her. She glared at him and what she saw in his eyes made her yelp and look back at the ground. They were full of obsessive longing that made her feel like millions and millions of miles wouldn't be enough distance to keep him from getting to her. She had only seen that look once before, but this was even more intense. It scared the stuffin' out of her. Lu willed with all her might for him to release her.

" Damn." The man dropped her arm, as if shocked. As soon as the pressure of his hand left her skin, Lu flew through the servant's doors and into a bustling kitchen. She sprinted through the room, dodging cooks left and right. Looking back, she saw the door start to open again. Throwing herself behind a counter, she gasped and peeked at the door. The silky haired man was standing in front of it, intense gaze raking the area. She ducked back behind the counter, drawing her knees up against her chest and hiding her face in them. This day was a complete nightmare, complete with a ghost. Could things get more terrifying?

A loaf of bread on the counter in front of Lu caught her attention, and she licked her lips hungrily. Maybe this mission wasn't completely unsuccessful. At the sight of un-spicy food, all thoughts of the danger pursuing her were lost. Lu stood up and grabbed the bread. She ripped a piece off and shoved it in her mouth. Due to her recent serious lack of noms, it was the best bread she had ever tasted. Glancing behind her, she saw the black eyed man running through the crowded kitchen toward her. She squeaked and dropped her bread. Cursing herself for forgetting she had been hiding, she ran out some sort of side door into a courtyard thingy, but not before picking up her precious food. Obviously, lack of blood was kicking her easily distracted mind up to a whole new level of unfocused-ness. Clutching the amazing loaf of bread to her chest protectively, she faced the door and started backing through the courtyard. She was far away from the door when it started to open. The tall man stepped out and looked strait at her. She was too far away to see his expression, or his eyes, thank Aslan.

" I just wanted some food that wasn't spicy!" She called as if it would clear everything up. The man stated running toward her, and he was surprisingly fast. Lu turned around and started sprinting away, skirt flying out behind her. She tripped on it and fell flat on the ground, her bread rolling out in front of her. " Damn." She struggled to her feet and grabbed it. Glancing behind her, she saw her pursuer had almost caught up. Curse him and his long legs. Hers were just too stubby.

Lu stumbled passed a bush and found a door. Wrenching it open, she threw herself inside and slammed it behind her. Hands shaking in fear, she locked it as quickly as she could.

***Smash***

The thick wooden door shook on it's hinges as someone on the other side hit it in frustration. Lu backed away in terror, as if he might somehow actually brake it down. Turning around, she sprinted up a flight of stairs directly behind her. When she had gone up enough flights of stairs to be close to Prunaprismia's room, she found a servant and asked for directions.

Arriving at the familiar doors, Lu felt a huge rush of relief. Now she could be relatively safe. Wandering the castle was dangerous, maybe it would have been better for her safety to have stayed locked in the dungeons. But then she never would have met Prunaprismia, and she really liked the woman.

Entering the sweet, she crossed the room to sit on the couch and eat her precious bread in safety. It felt so good to eat something not spicy, and from the look of the kitchen, it was going to be hard to find more edible food. She enjoyed it while it lasted.

" What on earth happened to you?" Prunaprismia demanded, walking out of her bedroom. Lu wondered what she had done wrong this time.

" Huh?"

" Your dress! It's all torn up and covered in dirt." Oh right.

" I, um, fell, kinda..."

" You kinda fell?"

" Well, I can't think without blood, how am I supposed to remember stuff?" asked Lu.

" Hm, I expect your just not used to walking in dresses. You'll get better with practice. Now you need change, you have somewhere to be."

" Where?"

" Your being formally introduced to court as the adopted daughter of Lord Miraz and I! You better wear something nice and not covered in dirt, everyone will be there. Including the prince." Oh joy.

" Fun." Lu deadpanned. Prunaprismia scowled. " Well I didn't ask for any of this did I?"

" True. Come here, I had the servants set your room up."

" I get a room?" Prunaprismia answered by leading her into the short hallway and opening another door. Inside was a medium sized room with a fluffy green silk bed and a door to a private balcony overlooking a courtyard. The same one she had tripped in while running from the black eyed man, strangely enough. " Oh my gosh I love it! Thank you!" Lu ran to the woman and hugged her. As Prunaprismia stood there dazed, a smile spread across her face and she hugged the girl back.

" See, maybe you can learn to like it here." The woman murmured. Lu thought about that. She would have to learn to live with the Telmarines until she could escape, and maybe she could even become a sort of secret agent for the Narnians. Find a way to bring down the kingdom from the inside or something. Just because she liked and trusted Prunaprismia a little, didn't mean her need to slaughter all Telmarines had dissipated any. Lu was still a bloodthirsty little demon.

" I'll leave you alone to get dressed." Prunaprismia slipped out of the room.

Lu sighed gazed around her new room. It had been a really long time since she had slept in an actual bed, and soon she found tears pricking at her eyes. Prunaprismia really was like the mother she never had. Crazy ice bitches don't count. Plus, here was almost a complete stranger taking her in, accepting her into their home, and being kind to her.

Lu was so used to a world of war and hate that she had forgotten about kindness and generosity. Her Narnian's saw her as a commander to be respected and obeyed. In their own way they loved her, but they too were unfamiliar with kindness, so they never showed her much. No one had been really nice to Lu in centuries, and even though she had the Narnians, none of them could really relate to her. As half elf and half ice witch, human was the closest anyone came to being like her, so she was very lonely. In a way, she sort of liked being around people like her, even if she did want to kill them all.

Long story short, Lu cried when people did nice things for her, and she was lonely.

As she broke down completely, Lu buried her head in the sheets of her bed and sobbed. Recalling her encounter with the black eyed man, she cried even harder. Sadly, crying while your still suffering from blood loss is bad, so she got a huge headache. Deciding that she was going to pull it together if it killed her, Lu choked back more sobs and tried to ignore the throbbing in her head. Pushing herself off the bed, she walked over to a huge closet and swung the door open. The thing was full of gowns of all different cuts and colors. Lu scowled. If she had to wear more dresses, there would be a lot more tripping, which could be dangerous if she ever ran into the tall man again.

Grabbing a blue dress, she slammed the closet door, turning away before she could look at it and remember things associated with closets. Throwing the dress on her bed, she stripped and tossed it on. Glancing around the room, she found something she hadn't seen in over a thousand years: a mirror. A thousand years without seeing yourself is a long time, and Lu had forgotten what she looked like.

She gazed at her features in the mirror. They were just as she remembered them, her eyes were still overly-large with that strange, sad look about them. Good thing Edmund wasn't around to tease her about them. Not that she would mind if he did, at this point. Her hair had grown longer, and now it fell all the way to her waist in layers of fiery ringlets. She hadn't grown much older in looks, but she thought she did seem a little more mature. Maybe that came from having her soul ripped out. Twice.

Then Lu noticed something that made her groan in frustration. She hadn't grown any taller! Turning around, she stomped her skinny four feet eleven inches body across the room and out the door. Screw mirrors, who cared what she looked like anyway?

Walking out of the hallway, she collided with Prunaprismia, who seemed to be hysterical. Even by Lu's standards.

" What's wrong?" inquired Lu in a gentle voice. It felt weird, usually she just demanded answers from people.

" I.. I just spoke to Miraz." She choked, " I know what's happening... I had no idea.." Lu, having remade enough blood to think almost properly again, was finally bothered the fact that she really did indeed have no idea what was going on. What those men in the dungeon had been talking about, what the men on her way to the kitchen had been arguing about, and the behavior of the black eyed man. It seemed to have something to do with her, though she couldn't for the life of her figure out what it was.

" You do? Tell me please! I need to know what's going on. Is it bad?" Prunaprismia shook her head, but Lu got the feeling it wasn't in answer to her last question.

" He threatened me not to tell you, but.." The woman started pacing, muttering to herself. Lu could only make out bits and pieces of what she was saying, using her keen elf hearing. The woman seemed to be trying to figure a way out of something. " Couldn't be, but he's right, ...hair, eyes... don't want to lose her...daughter...that's his plan... it'll make him go crazy, just like the others,... still not worth it...not my daughter! Damn legend...won't lose her, too young.. much to young... he'll be so mad if he.." She finally seemed to come to a decision. Walking to a cabinet, she pulled out a blue silk scarf. She then grabbed Lu's hair and twisted it into a bun, wrapping the scarf around it and tucking in any stray curls. " That should do it!" She exclaimed, " Until I can find a way to dye it. Come along, they're expecting us any minute!" Lu didn't say anything, but she really didn't want to dye her hair brown. It would make her feel like a conformist.

Lu followed her out the door and into the main castle. Though her head was throbbing, she tried to make sense of the situation, still coming up blank. It was, however, painfully clear by the nagging feeling of dread in the back of her head that a fully functional Lu would know exactly what was going on. Damn blood, why did it have to be so important?

Keeping up with Prunaprismia through all of the twists and turns was difficult, but eventually they seemed to have arrived at their destination. Two huge double doors were opened by guards and they were led into a huge throne room. It was filled with colorfully dressed nobles, all grouped loosely around a magnificent throne, obscuring the throne's occupant from view. Along the walls were less important looking throne-like chairs, each held one of the bearded guys that had visited her in her cell. They looked like some sort of council, and they seemed even more stuck up than before.

" Your majesty, Lady Prunaprismia, and Lord Miraz's recently adopted daughter, Lady Jade!" Announced a squire, or whatever you call em'. Lu watched the bearded guys look around as they heard her name, expressions triumphant. When their eyes fell on her headscarf, they turned furious, glaring holes through her skin. What was their problem? The scarf wasn't _that _ugly, was it?

The nobles parted to reveal a young man sitting on the throne. He lounged in the huge chair, making clear his boredom with the proceedings, and he seemed strangely familiar.

Lu stared at the floor as Prunaprismia herded her down a path-like carpet that led to the throne and group of nobles. The group moved forward to greet her, and soon she was shaking hands with Telmar's finest. Because of her not fully functioning brain, Lu found it easy to smile winningly and greet every one of her enemies, all while imagining what their heads would look like rolling across the floor.

Soon, the crowd of people between her and the thrown thinned. One noble in particular stood out to Lu. He was tall-ish, with thick curly hair that stood out on his head. He looked to be around seventeen. His smile was probably the only genuinely friendly one in the entire crowd, and it was completely mesmerizing. His name was Derek.

" So, how is it?" He asked in a wry voice.

" How is what?"

" Being the new daughter of the most ambitious man in court. Involved in any schemes yet?"

" Oh that. Well, from what I can tell _ambitious_ doesn't really cover it. And I don't think so." She smiled, " Truthfully, I haven't even met him yet." That was sorta true, right?

" Your kidding?" He sounded shocked. It was weird talking to a Telmarine like he was a friend, but the guy was just so likable Lu couldn't help it.

" Nope, I was drafted." She said with a strait face, which wasn't hard because it wasn't a joke. Derek seemed to think it was though, cause he chuckled. His laugh was amazing, and made her smile too.

" You're actually funny! Court will be a lot more fun with you around. If you ever need anything-" He stopped talking abruptly and looked up at something over her head. Lu could feel someone very tall standing behind her. " Prince Caspian!" Exclaimed Derek, the laughter vanished from his voice. " Have you met Lady Jade?" Wait, Prince _Caspian_? Lu froze. She did not like where this was going.

" No, and I've gotten tired of waiting for her to come to_ me._" The deep voice rumbled from behind her, and Lu almost jumped. Her heart was trying its best to escape her chest, and she wished it would. Then she couldn't be scared. Or anything else but hey, you win some, you lose some.

Lu whirled around, keeping her eyes on the ground. Knowing she would lose it if the black eyes caught her's, she curtsied clumsily.

" Your Majesty."

" Welcome, Jade, to my court." He sounded bored, but his voice still paralyzed her with fear. Lu did not once look up from the ground.

" Thank you your majesty." She mumbled.

" Derek right? Lord Sopespian's son?"

" That's right your majesty."

" Well, Jade, now that I've finally appeased the Lords of the council and met you, I get to leave. Excuse me." He started toward the raised dais around his throne. Lu sighed in relief, he hadn't recognized her. Feeling something wet sliding down her hand, she looked down and realized her bandages were slowly soaking with blood, her frantic heart was pushing it out of her skin.

" Kinda scary, that one." announced Derek, not noticing her situation. Lu chuckled in agreement, hiding her hands behind her back. Scary didn't _begin_ to cover it. "Don't take the attitude personally, he's been forced by the council to meet swarms of hopeful young ladies recently. They want him to choose a wife, but-"

" Ladies and Gentlemen, now that we have all welcomed Lady Jade, it is time for us to-" Prince Caspian's bored voice abruptly cut off. Lu finally looked up from the floor to see what was the matter. Big mistake, he was staring right at her.

The nobles murmured among themselves, surprised and trying to figure out what was going on. Lu looked around at Lord Miraz. A triumphant, scary grin was spreading across his face. Looking back at Caspian, she saw him take a long stride toward her, brow furrowed in concentration, as if trying to figure something out. The rest of the crowd seemed to have noticed where his attention was, and were all staring at her as well. With her elf ears, she heard the familiar voice of Prunaprismia curse in defeat somewhere behind her.

The prince started walking toward her. Lu, terrified, started backing up. Just as she turned around to sprint through the door, a familiar steely grip closed around her wrist. Lu felt herself forcibly turned around to face the black eyed man, her eyes glued to the ground.

A warm finger was placed beneath her chin, and her head was forced upward to look at the nightmare before her. As icy green eyes met cold black ones, Lu gasped in fear and he raised his hand to her hair, ripping off the blue scarf. As flaming curls tumbled onto her shoulders, she felt a presence behind her.

" Your majesty." Miraz's voice radiated smugness. Bastard. " Allow me to introduce my daughter, the Lady Lucifer Jadis." Lu almost screamed. She had no idea where this was going, but it was obviously not good. Now everyone knew who she was. All the nobles looked shocked. Derek's face stood out, she met his eyes, his expression was filled with horror and sympathy. " She was found in the forest alone."

Lu looked back up into Caspian's eyes. They were exactly the same as the first Caspian's, cold and dark. She saw the same things in them as she had earlier that day, and it terrified the hell out of her. Attempting to regain custody of her wrist failed, so she resorted to trying to talk her way out of the situation.

" Um, please let me go." She squeaked. He responded by grabbing her other wrist, too. Well that had worked out. Damn.

Suddenly, the mind numbing fear was not enough to keep Lu from remembering that she had no skin on her wrists, and that him grabbing her there hurt really. Effing. Bad. Blood was streaming down into her hands, but he seemed too distracted to notice.

The nobles were all muttering, and Caspian turned around to face them, pulling her in front of him and wrapping his arms like a cage around her waist. Her back was pressed against his chest, and she could feel him breathing.

" Ladies and Gentlemen, your future Queen!" He called triumphantly over the noise of the crowd. There was shock filled silence for a second, then everyone started clapping and cheering. Only Derrek seemed to notice her expression of utter panic.

" No no no no. No!" Her voice was weak, and only the man behind her heard it. He turned her around, keeping his arms around her back so she couldn't escape. She tilted her head back to look imploringly into his eyes, green chips of crystal pleading with cold black stone. He was unmoved.

" Your mine now." He murmured. Lu felt the blackness of his eyes expand, devouring her until only darkness remained. Her body was shaking from lack of blood once again. As a drop of crimson liquid slid from her hand and splattered onto the floor, she slipped from consciousness.


	12. Anchored

Lu groaned and rolled over, eyes cracking open for a second before her face was smushed back into a quilted pillow. After a few minutes of dreaming she was in a strange, unfamiliar room, a light went on in her head and it flew off the pillow.

Indeed, she was in an unfamiliar room. It was too dark to see clearly, but Lu got the feeling that it was very large from the size of the bed. The thing was fricking huge.

Panic seized Lu as she remembered the events of her " introduction" to the court. After that, being in someone else's bed was definitely not a good thing. Especially when she had a feeling she knew who's bed it was...

Turning to hop off the bed and run away, she came face to face with a plump, short old man. Of course, Lu screamed.

" Holy-!" the man put his hand over her mouth, cutting off the piercing noise. Lu glared at him over the knarled hand, but calmed down enough to see that he probably wasn't a threat.

" You'd better not scream my dear, or I fear the prince will brake down the door!" He smirked at her terrified expression. " You don't seem too pleased, most girls around here would kill to be in your position." Lu scowled, thinking about what she would do to _not_ be in her position. Pretty much anything.

" So it really happened then? I didn't just have some freakishly vivid nightmare?" The old man nodded.

" I'm sorry dear." He sounded sincere.

" He looks just like him..." Lu muttered distractedly. The old man sighed, knowing what she meant. "Are you a Telmarine too? You don't seem like one."

" My name is Dr. Cornelius, and at the moment it matters not what I am, but what I am here to do. I trust you are very confused with your situation?"

" Um, I gotta say... yeah. Yeah I am."

" Well, I feel it would be unwise to leave you in your predicament without some knowledge about it. But first I must ask, is it really you?"

" Of course I'm me. Who else would I be?"

" No, I mean, are you really Lucifer Jadis? Daughter of the elf and the Ice Witch? The girl that faced Caspian the Conqueror? That cursed the royal family of the Telmarines? Or is this just some bid for more power by Lord Miraz?"

" How do you know all that?" Lu asked suspiciously, then covered her mouth. " Damn, I just told you didn't I? Oh well, you pretty much knew anyway.." The old man glanced toward a corner of the room at the confirmation. " But I've never cursed anyone."

" Well, even so, you play a very large part in the curse itself. Many people believe that you cursed the Caspians yourself, but it is more likely that the deep magic of Narnia was just punishing the one who upset it's balance. And his offspring."

" Hmmm, well they totally deserved it. Whatever it was." grumbled Lu.

" That may be so, but without it, you wouldn't be in this situation."

" Huh, what does that- wait. What were they cursed with?" asked Lu, finally figuring something out.

" Well, no one knows exactly what it is but the Caspians. I'll tell you what I know, starting at the very beginning. After Caspian the Conqueror won the battle against the Narnians and tore down their castle, he went into a great rage. It never ended, and only grew worse with time. They say he was obsessed with the forest, and sent hundreds of men into it. None of them came out alive. Around a year after the great battle, he became so murderous that anyone who dared enter his presence was slaughtered. Eventually he himself rode into the forest, never to be seen again. Rumor has it he was muttering the name _Lucifer Jadis_ until his dieing breath." Lu flinched, that was pretty intense.

" Alright, then what?" She asked, feigning nonchalance.

" Well, the Telmarines had captured a few Narnians during the battle. These, of course, were torchered to death by Caspian the Conqueror for information about you. All of this information was locked up after his death so no one would ever find it. Thankfully, a boy was found to be the son of Caspian the First. At eighteen, before he took the throne, he started to have dreams about a girl in the forest. A girl with fiery curls and emerald eyes. At first there were only dreams, but then all he could think about was the redheaded girl. A few years later, Caspian the Second broke into a vault and discovered all the information on you left by his father. There was a lot of it too. By torchering the Narnians, he learned that you were part elf, so you would live forever if unharmed, and that you were the daughter of the ice witch Jadis. He even had one of his more talented army commanders that saw you do a portrait. Eventually, the second Caspian rode out into the woods to search for you, and was lost forever. Rumors spread, and soon you became a legend. No one knew exactly what to believe, so many different versions of your story exist. They were all written into a book, which was locked in the vault along with anything that mentioned you. People were forbidden to speak of the red haired demoness to try and keep the new Caspian from finding out. Sadly, every prince so far has suffered the same fate, though they have been finding out about you younger and younger." Lu wondered who had been killing all of the Caspians without telling her. Strong words would be had with her archers when she finally escaped. Her foot itched to connect with someone's shin. Kings tended to make valuable prisoners, especially when slightly alive. " This Caspian, the tenth, has known about you since he was sixteen." She looked at the old man speculatively.

" Are you sure you're not making all this up?" She asked bluntly. His eyes twinkled.

" You are exactly the way the stories say you are, my dear. Yes, I'm sure. I brought the book of stories that the Telmarines tell about you. You should take a look, it might be ... enlightening." He glanced at the dark corner again, then leaned toward her. " Listen lady, I know you've been forced to be here, but I have been Caspian's tutor since he was young. He is probably the first in his line to have any compassion, and I have high hopes for the boy. But if you continue to evade him, he will become a monster, just like his predecessors." The old man whispered this to her, as if he was afraid someone very close would overhear them.

" So?"

" So, the people of Telmar are also suffering. They haven't had a stable king in centuries, though they are still extremely loyal to the Caspian line. They deserve better. And who knows, maybe the Narnian's will benefit from this arrangement (he whispered _that_ part even quieter, but Lu still didn't notice, or realize what that statement implied). By the way, I would advise against trying to kill Caspian the Tenth. There are a number of Lords much worse than he is ready to take his place. Just saying."

" Damn." cursed Lu, the devious smile sliding off her face. She'd thought she'd had something there.

The professor got up to leave, but Lu had one more question that made her call for him to wait. He stopped by the door.

" He said "Queen" last night." her voice was suddenly tremulous with fear. " He didn't mean that, did he?" Lu closed her eyes and placed a hand over her heart, praying for the man to answer in the negative. He chuckled at her expression of desperation.

" Why don't you look at your finger, your majesty." He bowed himself out of the room, shutting the door.

Lu was suddenly aware of a foreign presence on her body. Grabbing her hand, she held it up for inspection. There on her ring finger, was the biggest, bluest bloody diamond she had ever seen. It felt like some sort of anchor, weighing down her entire hand. She fell back on the bed, letting out a high pitched, keening moan. Laughter sounded somewhere in the room, making her jump and back up against the headboard in fear. A light went on beside a chair, illuminating a tall young man with black eyes and silky hair. Lu went rigid on the bed. Oh.

That's who's room this was.

Crap! Lu threw the blankets over her head and wormed her way to the other side of the bed, sliding off the edge. Rolling over, she stood up and pushed tousled red hair out of her eyes, which connected with two black slits between her and the door. Damn.

She glared at him like she hadn't just made a pathetic attempt at escaping. His eyes pierced her's, but she didn't drop her gaze.

" I hate you." Lu growled, wrapping long fingers around the ring ant trying to tug it off. No luck.

" It won't come off." He finally spoke.

" Why not?" demanded Lu, furious.

" It's been witched." The deep voice and accent sent shivers down her spine. She turned around and walked resolutely toward the wall. Bringing her fist back, she slammed it into the stone. Her hand exploded in pain, but she ignored it and examined the ring. Not a scratch.

" I wanted to add emeralds or something, but I figured they wouldn't be able to withstand the abuse." He smirked. " Why don't you read the inscription? It's my favorite part." Lu looked at the gold band on her finger.

_Mea in Aeternum Lucifer_

" It means _mine for eternity_, just in case you ever forget." Lu, Still extremely low on blood, started to get tunnel vision. Turning around, she fell to her knees.

" You can't do this." He started toward her.

" Actually I _can_." Bending over, he wrapped his arms around her shaking body and lifted her up, carrying her over to the bed to lay her down gently. Lu crawled away from him as soon as he let go. He smirked when her eyes darted toward the door. " Here, you need it to replace the blood you spilled all over the floor, and my clothes." He held out a big piece of the same kind of bread she had eaten earlier. " I noticed you liked this stuff,... a lot." Lu grimaced at the reference to her obsessive behavior toward the bread she had been holding while he chased her. Glaring suspiciously at him, she reached out and grabbed the bread, scooting back to a corner of the bed to devour it within seconds while he sat between her and the door.

Lu felt much more like herself once the food had disappeared. Putting her ring finger in her mouth, she attempted to bite it off. Gnawing on her finger, her eyes traveled to Caspian, who had gone strangely silent. He was watching her, black eyes filled with hunger. Maybe he needed some food too? She looked closer.

Finger still in mouth, Lu gasped and rolled off the bed, hitting the ground hard. Wrong kind of hunger, she realized.

Peaking over the bed, she could just see Caspian smirking at her. Deciding it was safe, she stood up, still distracted by her ring finger.

" It won't come off" He repeated. " Because only I can take it off." Well damn.

" Take it off then." Lu demanded, holding out her wet finger.

" No, I don't think I will." He was smiling now. Lu scowled, this was too much. Suddenly, she made a break for the door. Scampering across the room, she only made it halfway before he leaped off the bed and had her in his arms. Again.

Lu struggled and he lifted her up so the tiny feet could find no traction on the floor. She hissed as she was thrown on the bed and pinned beneath his weight. Lu squirmed until Caspian's eyes got darker. Then she lay completely still beneath him, not daring to move a muscle. He wasn't moving either, his body tense above hers. Breathing deeply and steadily, he seemed to be trying to get control of himself. Eventually his eyes went back to normal and he rolled off her, still holding her wrist so she couldn't escape. Lu tugged at her arm, testing his grip. Didn't look like she'd be going anywhere soon.

Those darker eyes had scared her more than anything so far. As they both lay on their backs panting, Lu turned and kicked him in the side. He didn't even have the decency to flinch. She glared at the side of his face.

" Let me go."

" Are you going to run away?"

" Of course not!"

" Liar." He sat up and pulled her towards him, careful of the fresh bandage on her wrist. Lu noticed it for the first time.

" Since when has that been there?" she grumbled.

" Since I put it there. Figured it would be easier while you were unconscious" All her other wounds had been cleaned and bandaged as well. Lu realized something.

" You said I got blood all over your clothes. I don't remember that."

" Cause you were unconscious. I had to carry you up here from the throne room." He admitted. Lu looked curiously at the young man sitting on the bed beside her. He had been taking care of her while she was asleep.

Lu had no idea how to respond to that.

So of course, she decided to deal with it the only way she knew how. His grip on her wrist had gone slack, and she wrenched her arm away from him, darting for the door. Grabbing her boots by the wall, she flew out of the room.

**Caspian**

Caspian sat there on the bed, completely shocked, black eyes narrowed at the open door. As soon as she found out he'd done something nice for her, that he really, truly cared, she ran away. There was something seriously off about that girl.


	13. Chocolate

Sprinting down a hallway and clutching her precious boots, Lu did not dare look to see if Caspian was following her. That would have wasted precious seconds she needed to take every turn possible so she could not be followed. Random castle inhabitants stopped what they were doing to stare at the girl zipping down corridors, with long red hair streaming behind her. She ducked into a storage room and slipped on her boots, then continued on her frantic rampage.

Lu turned one more corner and collided with someone. Said someone was extremely sturdy, because she tumbled to the ground while he remained upright. Lu was scrambling away as she hit the floor without even looking to see who it was that she had run into.

" Jade?" The kind voice sounded surprised. Lu stopped moving and looked up. Derek was standing over her, holding out a hand.

" Hey Derek, didn't see you there." She said, like randomly colliding with people and falling over backwards was a regular thing. " What goes on?" Lu cast a subtle glance over her shoulder.

" What are you wearing?" Derek was staring down at her clothes. Lu looked too. Crap.

She was wearing what was most definitely one of Caspian's shirts. Thankfully, the garment almost reached her knees and wasn't _entirely_ see-through. Sadly, realization soon dawned on Derek and he smirked knowingly. Lu's eyes widened and she held her hands up defensively.

" No! It's not-" Lu grabbed handfuls of her hair and yanked it in frustration. " I _hate _him! I would never... grr." She scowled.

" I'm just teasing, I know you do. If I were you, I would too. Sorry you got caught." He sounded sincere, which was really weird. Lu's mouth dropped open in shock. Here was a Telmarine that knew exactly who she was, and didn't hate her for it!

" Your really okay with who I am? You know I've killed hundreds of Telmarines, right?" Hope shined in Lu's eyes. She really needed a friend, and she couldn't find Prunaprismia at the moment.

" Yup, I don't really like to get involved in.. politics. The way I see it, we sort of deserved it for taking over Narnia. I've heard your story,.. or some of them. No one ever considers what you've been through. All they care about is your part in the kings' deaths... but I do have one question."

" Anything!" Lu beamed in happiness at Derek. She didn't care that he was a Telmarine anymore, he was her friend. But she was a little apprehensive about what he might ask.

" Should I still call you Jade?" She let out a breath she hadn't even realized she'd been holding and launched herself at the boy. Jumping onto him, she wrapped her arms around his shoulders, feet dangling over a foot off the ground.

" Call me Lu!" She squealed. He wrapped his arms around her waist and hugged her back. She could feel his chuckles at her overenthusiastic response until they ceased abruptly. His body tensed. Fear clutched at Lu's heart as she slid to the floor and turned around to see what the problem was.

Caspian's tall frame was leaning against the wall behind them. His arms were crossed and his black eyes were narrowed in rage.

" Would it upset you much, dearest, if I killed the boy?" His voice sounded barely controlled, accent thick in fury. Lu's hands clenched into fists as she met his murderous eyes defiantly, making her aware of the ring burning on her finger.

" You wouldn't dare." She tried to put as much anger and confidence into her voice as she could, but it couldn't compete with his. Caspian's lips pulled back in a feral, humorless grin. Surprisingly sharp, white teeth contrasted dangerously with dark skin.

" Try me." Derek seemed to have frozen in fear behind her. Lu shoved on his chest, signaling him to get the hell out. She turned back to Caspian, green gaze locking with black.

" He's my only friend here. I _need_ a friend." She whispered. His steely eyes softened a bit, but they still burned with jealous rage. Lu forced her feet to move toward him, until she almost had to look strait up to meet his gaze. Even leaning against a wall, he still towered over her. " I'm always going to hate you, so why can't you just let me go?"

" For the same reason all my ancestors died in the forest, trying to find you even though they knew the risk." She looked up questioningly. " I love you." There was no trace of anger in his eyes as he said this, only longing. Horror filled Lu's mind. That was definitely the scariest thing he had said so far. Could what he felt possibly be love? It seemed too twisted and obsessive for that.

Lost in a whirlwind of thought, Lu didn't notice that he was backing her into a corner until her back hit the wall. His hands were on the stone by her sides, caging her in. Now where had this happened before? You'd think a girl would learn.

Her heart fluttered as panic clouded her mind. His body pressed against hers and her gut twisted. Lu looked up at the man bearing down on her, his eyes were dark again. Now his hands were on her hips, pinning her between the wall and himself. One hand trailed up her body to tilt her chin back.

His lips slammed down onto hers and she started squirming to escape. His growl vibrated through her body as he grabbed her legs and lifted them up around his waist. Lu whimpered and wrapped her arms around his shoulders in case he dropped her. Leaving one arm to hold her legs in place, Caspian tangled his other hand in her fiery curls, pressing her body and lips closer. Their hips ground together and he started panting, holding her tighter. Lu was unable to move or make a sound, completely frozen in fear. His kiss grew more rough and demanding against her unresponsive lips as he carried her all the way back to his rooms. Entering the bedroom, Caspian kicked the door shut behind him.

As her back hit the bed, Lu's mind broke the haze and started going into overdrive. She had to find a way to get him to stop, and soon. His lips left hers and moved to her neck, leaving her free to breath. She needed to escape, but Lu was also afraid to anger him while they were this close together. Who knew what he might do?

" Caspian?" she croaked. He hummed acknowledgement against her skin, making her whole body vibrate again. " Please." She threaded her fingers into his silky hair, trying to pull his lips off her. He allowed his head to be removed, propping himself up over her on his arms. His breathing was ragged, and Lu could see in his eyes how hard it had been to stop.

There was a sudden twinge in her chest, right where her she imagined her heart was. From what she knew of Telmarines, most men wouldn't have stopped what Caspian had been doing just because their fiancé had asked them to. Did that mean he really cared about her? Regardless, she was feeling extremely grateful at the moment.

Lu wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him, lifting her back off the bed in the process.

" Thank you!" She gasped, and pecked him on the cheek. Caspian, still dazed, rolled over, taking her with him. Sitting on top of him, Lu watched in wonder as a genuine smile, one without any hint of malice, appeared on his handsome face. Her chest twinged again as she reached up, tracing a finger along his lips, just to assure herself it was real. His smile was the most heartbreakingly beautiful thing she had ever seen. He was always scowling.

A twinkling blue diamond caught her eye and Lu's smile evaporated. How could she have forgotten who this was? What his family had done to her? What _he_ was doing to her? One real smile and she was chocolate in his fist, resolve melting away. She was way tougher than that, right? Lu climbed off him.

" Whats wrong?" He caught her ankle as she crawled across the bed and dragged her back.

" I can't forgive you." She mumbled, not meeting his searching black gaze. " And every time I look at you, I think of him.."

" The first Caspian?"

" Yeah." Caspian sighed. " It's nice to know you can feel and whatnot, but it really doesn't change anything. Sorry, still hate you." Wait wait wait, sorry? _Sorry?_ When had that word ever passed her lips? She started crawling away again, but fell down. He was still holding onto her ankle.

" Where do you think your going?" He smirked.

" Um, back to my room. You know, the place where I sleep? Its dark, and I'm tired."

" Yeah.. about that.." The room got deadly quiet. Lu's eyes narrowed suspiciously.

" What are you saying?"

" Well, this is your room now."

" Uh, no. It's your room."

" Exactly."

" Huh?" Caspian rolled his eyes.

" It's my room, so, it's your room." Lu filled with dread. She thought she knew where this was going... " You live here now." Damn.

" No."

" Yes."

" No, I wont." Lu set her jaw. She was not going through with this.

" I'm not going to let you leave, if that's how you're going to be."

" Why are you doing this?" Caspian looked at her seriously.

" You've been eluding the Caspian line for centuries. We've all died trying to get our hands on you. Now I've got you, and I'm not letting go. Ever. But I feel like your going to disappear, like this isn't real." He squeezed her ankle, as if to assure himself it was still there. " It all just seems so impossible that you're here. It's going to be a while before I can let you out of my sight, let alone sleep in a different room." Uh-oh, this was not good.

" But what about Prunaprismia?"

" What about her?"

" She's my adopted mother! Didn't she stand up for me?"

" Prunaprismia, you mean my aunt? She was so mad, she threw a vase at my head, screaming "_She's too young, how could you take my daughter?"_ Usually I would have to execute her, but I made an exception. She seemed very distraught." He smirked.

" How could you do this to her? She had a daughter for a day and she'd always wanted one! But you took her...me.. away!" Poor Prunaprisma, she didn't deserve this.

" I think I've wanted you for longer than she has." his eyes narrowed.

" Oh right..., well, I really, _really _don't like you."

" For now.." Caspian looked at her speculatively. Lu laughed humorlessly.

" Your family has "loved" me for over thousand years, yeah?" He nodded. " Well, I've hated you for just as long too. However much you love me, that's how much I hate you. And if a thousand years of hate somehow wears off-" Lu outwardly rolled her eyes in skepticism, but inside, she remembered the twinge in her chest when she saw him smile. " I'll carve out my heart and toss it in the sea." Caspian's face darkened, black eyes flashed threateningly.

" I will never let you do that to yourself."

" We'll see." He glared at her. " You don't own me."

" Actually, I do." Lu sighed.

" I'm too tired for this, where's the bathroom?" Caspian pointed to a door in a corner of the room.

" Going to sleep in there?"

" Thinkin' about it." Lu walked into the huge bathroom and sat on the stone counter. What had she gotten herself into? No amount of information on the Telmarines was worth this.

Splashing some water from the faucet on her face and toweling it off, she sauntered back into the room. Caspian was propped up on the bed, watching her.

Lu stalked over to the bed and grabbed a pillow. She could feel the curious black eyes on her as she walked to a rug in front of the fire place. Unlacing them, she kicked off her boots and put them safely by the wall. Curling up on the rug with her pillow, she watched the flames dance behind a grate as the eyes burned a hole in her back.

" What are you doing?" he asked in a flat tone that told Lu he already knew.

" What does it look like? I'm not sleeping in the same bed as you!" Caspian sighed.

" Stop being difficult."

" Make me." Lu regretted those words as soon as they slipped out. Curse her rebelliousness.

He moved so silently she didn't even hear him. Before she knew it she was in his arms, pillow and all. Lu squirmed.

" Let me go! Abuse!" She yelped, kicking, but he was much too big to fight off. Lu hugged her pillow as his arms constricted around her, squeezing her against his chest. Silky black hair brushed her cheek and her skin tingled. There was another tug in her chest. Lu scowled, scraping her nails over the cheek to punish the offending nerves and stop the sensation.

Caspian fell onto the bed, crushing her beneath him again.

" _Stay _here this time." He growled into her hair, pressing her back down into the mattress.

Lu's breathing was shallow and constricted by Caspian's weight as he pulled blankets over the both of them. Remaining completely on top of her, He nuzzled his face into her neck, pressing his lips into her skin.

" Goodnight." He whispered evilly against her. Lu squirmed, trying to remove the crushing mass from her chest.

" Can't breathe!" She gasped.

" You should have thought of that, before you tried to escape." He smirked. Lu could feel the satisfaction radiating from the young man on top of her. She quit struggling and focused on breathing, cause she seriously needed some more oxygen.

" I'm gonna die." She choked. Caspian's weight shifted so he wasn't pressing so hard on her chest. His chuckles vibrated through her entire body, making her head buzz. " What are you made of, stone? Telmarine- figures." He was still on top of her. Lu squirmed experimentally, but Caspian couldn't be moved any more. She fell silent, trying to think of a way to get him off. Her eyes fell on a dark skinned shoulder, right in front of her face. Lu used her nose to nudge the loose cloth of his shirt off his shoulder. So caught up was she in her plan, that she didn't feel his body tense above her.

Once his shoulder was exposed, Lu opened her mouth and tried to sink sharp little teeth into it. Sadly, Caspian had too much muscle for this to work, and she was rewarded with him grabbing her hips and grinding against them as his lips moved against her neck. Wow Lu, great plan, she thought.

Lu wound her hands into his silky black hair and once again pulled his lips away from her skin.

" Snap out of it." She pleaded. Lu watched the darkness drain from his black eyes. When they were no longer misted over, he grimaced and rolled off her.

" That's going to be a problem." Groaned Caspian. Lu nodded. Belated fear filled her and she rolled as far away from him as the bed would allow. Soon, the fear was no longer enough to keep her from drifting off; and she was too deeply asleep to feel the steely arms that wrapped around her and dragged her across the bed.

**Cornelius**

Dr. Cornelius opened the door silently with practiced ease, slipping into the room. Usually he would wake up the prince at this time, so they could watch the stars and talk about the old Narnians. Making his way to the giant bed, the old man found his prince asleep in a most peculiar position. He seemed to have his arms around something underneath him, but Cornelius could see nothing there. Other than that, Caspian seemed only to be sleeping on his stomach.

Something red caught the professor's eye. Further inspection revealed a tiny girl completely obscured by the sleeping prince. His arms were wrapped around her and his body was covering hers protectively, as if he were afraid she would be taken away. The girl whimpered in her sleep-

And then did something that completely shocked Cornelius. Her small arms slowly slipped out and wrapped around Caspian's shoulders, one tiny hand resting lightly on his silky black hair.

Once Cornelius had scrambled out the door and had his back resting safely against the wall outside the room, he shook his head to clear it.

Being part dwarf, he had heard more than just the vague Telmarine stories about the leader of the Narnian rebellion, Lucifer Jadis. She slaughtered every Telmarine she could get her tiny hands on without even batting an eyelash, and hated the intruders with her entire being. So how was this possible? Maybe Lu had gone so long with only animals to talk to that she just needed the company of something closer to her own kind, no matter what form it came in. But the girl was much too stubborn, and would definitely never admit to herself that she and Caspian were good for each other. If she ever actually developed conscious feelings for him.., it would not be good. He doubted anyone would have the power to stop her from doing something incredibly stupid if it came to that.

Cornelius shuddered. If Lu ever went beyond just feelings, if she ever fell in love with Caspian, and the situation was not handled correctly..., the girl would probably go crazy and kill the prince. Or herself. Or a bunch of random innocent bystanders. By all accounts, the situation was less than ideal.


	14. Stories

Lu awoke to a crushing weight covering her entire body. It was warm, but didn't smell like a satyr. A long time had gone by since one of the furry creatures had fallen on her while she was asleep, so what could it be?

She wriggled a little, trying to slip away, and suddenly whatever it was had its arms around her. The life was being crushed from her scrawny body, and the arms continued to grow tighter, until Lu could no longer draw breath. Panic clouded her mind. This was not the battlefield she had wanted to die on, surrounded by soldiers with the Narnians at her back. She had to think of something.

As consciousness started fading, Lu started hitting the back of the thing with her tiny fists. Desperately thrashing and kicking, she finally felt the arms loosen around her. Thank Aslan.

" Hmmmm. Stop squirming," murmured a very familiar accented voice. ...

Oh damn. That's what it was.

Lu tried to facepalm, but ended up hitting Caspian in the back again, which seemed to hurt her more than him.

"Then stop trying to kill me!" She pushed at his shoulder until he rolled off to the other side of the bed, taking all of the blankets with him. Lu sat up and shivered, glaring at the sleeping prince. He had the nerve to try and kill her in his _sleep_? Bastard.

Cold air nipped at her exposed skin, the fire having gone out long ago. She glanced back at Caspian. What would happen if she tried to reclaim the blankets? He would probably grab her again, and the chances of surviving that were slim. Maybe she should use his current state of unconsciousness to her advantage and try to escape. He had locked the door, but maybe someone would come in?

A crazy plan started to form inside Lu's devious little mind. What if she knocked the prince out and waited for someone to come and check on him, then slipped out the door? At least that would get her out of the room. It was a long shot, but definitely worth a try.

Now, how to knock out a sleeping prince with unconscious homicidal tendencies? Lu strained her eyes to search the dark room for the answer to her problem, and discovered a heavy-looking clay mug sitting on top of the fireplace. That might work….

Careful not to disturb Caspian, Lu slid off the bed and padded softly over to the fireplace. The huge handle of the mug made her hands look tiny and childlike as she lifted it silently and tip toed back to the giant bed.

Lu stood beside the sleeping prince, weapon in hand, staring down at her victim. He looked so peaceful and innocent when he wasn't looming over her. Even though all she could see was the back of his head, she imagined that his face held no trace of the usual frown or scowl.

The reason for the almost constant angry expression on his face suddenly hit her. Caspian, though he was a prince, had the hardest life of anyone she could think of. Doomed to obsessively love someone that would only hate him in return? He hadn't even done anything wrong! Why should he have to pay for the first Caspian's mistake?

But what could she do about it? Lu came up blank. Narnia definitely expected too much of her.

She raised the mug, focusing luminous icy eyes on the back of Caspian's head. The weapon whistled through the air as she brought it down with all the force she could muster.

Before she could hit her target, a hand shot out and grabbed Lu's wrist. She squealed and hissed, dropping the mug onto the bed where it rolled to the floor with a resounding thump. Turning away from the apparently awake prince, she threw her weight against his grip, desperate to escape. Only accomplishing severely straining her arm, Lu dropped to the floor in frustration as the hand started dragging her back towards its owner.

Caspian finally looked up and rolled over, pulling her onto the bed. Pinning her arms and legs down with his own, he burned through the terrified green gaze with cold, angry black eyes.

"You're going to be more of a problem than I thought," he growled. Lu just stared up at him, trying her hardest to look innocent.

"Well, you tried to kill me too! While you were asleep! It scared the stuffing-" Caspian put a finger over her lips, silencing Lu immediately for the first time in history.

"I'm just worried about _you_." The green eyes clouded. What?

"Huh?" Caspian brushed stray red curls out of her face and rested his hand on her cheek. Lu was too curious to protest this action.

"If you ever try and kill me and someone finds out, they might tell the council lords, who will arrest you for attempted assassination. They might not go as far as to hang you, seeing as you're the future queen and they know I would kill them if they chose the death sentence, but I'm sure they'll come up with some sort of nasty punishment. And I can't let that happen to you. Plus, technically you're still a prisoner, and that means if you try to escape they can arrest you then too. I'm not king yet, so the council lords still have a lot of authority."

Lu sighed. "So when I try and escape or kill you, I'll get arrested by a bunch of smarmy old bearded guys? Ugh."

"Yes, but hopefully they won't try and kill _you_. Just don't try to escape." Caspian looked down at her sternly, but Lu just rolled her eyes.

"Not try and escape? Really? Yeah right. Somehow, I don't see that happening."

Caspian glared. "You know, you're never going to succeed."

Lu scoffed indignantly. "We'll see about that! There's no way I'm going to live with being stuck here- Oh look, the sun's coming up!" Caspian smirked at how easily she was distracted, but his eyes still held traces of anger. He rolled off the bed, and Lu let out a sigh of relief. Having him on top of her was always more than slightly terrifying. Unfortunately, he seemed to enjoy it.

"I have a meeting with the council lords, you should get some more rest."

"You're right. I didn't sleep too well... for some reason." She glared at him, burrowing into the blankets. Sleep overcame her in seconds.

When she finally awoke, light was streaming in through the cracks in the curtains and the prince was gone. Thrashing around to rid herself of tangled bed sheets, Lu rolled a little too far and hit the floor.

"Damn!" she hissed. Lu sat up and glared at the door. It was most certainly locked, and further inspection revealed that the windows were locked as well. Though they wouldn't have been much help unless she learned how to fly.

Lu's eyes fell on the door to the gigantic bathroom. She hadn't had the luxury of regular bathing in a long time, and she could use that to pass the time. Besides, she felt icky after being forced to sleep in the enemy's bed. However, soaking in hot water with nothing else to do was too boring for someone with the attention span of a walnut. There had to be _something_ entertaining involved...

Like a sign from Aslan, Lu stubbed her foot on something hard lying on the floor. Hopping up and down on one foot and clutching the other with much cursing, she discovered the source of her discomfort was the large book of Lucifer Jadis stories. Lu's eyes widened in delight. Snatching up the book, she proceeded to do a victory dance all the way into the bathroom. After a long and frustrating five minutes of figuring out how the knobs worked to get the right temperature, she read the front page as the tub filled.

_A collection of tales centered around the mysterious bane of our kings_

_Lucifer Jadis_

Ooh, that sounded good. Lu slid into the scalding water and carefully turned to the first story.

_Not many people realize it, but the demoness Lucifer Jadis was actually a stray mermaid that unwittingly flopped up onto the king's flagship-_

Wait, what the hell? Lu re-read the line twice, but either her dyslexia was really acting up, or whoever wrote this actually thought she was a mermaid. That would explain her appearance on Caspian the Conqueror's ship while it was still about a mile from land, but still, it was just plain lame. Mermaids were obnoxious, giggly little creatures.

Lu finished reading the first story, but there was not a shred of truth in the entire thing. For one, she was most definitely not a mermaid. And, there was no way in hell that she had _seduced_ Caspian the Conqueror with her _mystical mermaid powers._ Like she would even want to go there.

The next version was a little more accurate, obviously having been written with the knowledge that she was part elf and part ice witch, not a mermaid. However, she definitely did not have the power to freeze hundreds of soldiers to their deaths. If she had, then her Narnians would be free by now, and those pesky Telmarines would all be chillin' six feet under. No pun intended.

The next version was almost dead-on about everything, including the tunnel that she had made to try and help the Narnians escape. The only thing it got wrong was her personality. She wasn't _that_ evil, selfish, stupid, clumsy, vicious, stubborn, and just downright rude... Right?

Most of the stories ended with her death, sometimes even at Caspian the Conqueror's hands. Those explained his obsession as one of guilt. Usually she was portrayed as an evil seductress, luring the kings to their death. One story actually described her as an innocent victim whose only goal was to protect her subjects. Sadly, that one ended with her turning into a llama, which seemed to be some sort of weird animal.

One version of the story sent chills down her spine, even through the hot bathwater. She and the first Caspian had been in love, but she had been unable to forgive him for killing her people and ran off into the forest. Then, Caspian had followed her and strangled her to death in rage. Apparently, madness and violence ran in the family or something. Hopefully the present prince hadn't inherited much of it, but just in case, Lu made a mental note not to antagonize him within strangling distance.

By this time, there was only one version left, the water had gone cold, and Lu was quite clean. Wrapping herself in a fluffy towel, she drained the tub, grabbed her book, and stuck her head out the door to make sure the way was clear. Afraid Caspian would be back at any moment, she shot across the room to the closet and wrenched it open. Inside were dresses, but she was more interested in the prince's clothes. Digging around in the back for something old that might fit better than his last shirt, she came up with an outfit that was definitely not the right size, but small enough not to trip her. She slammed the closet door and dressed in record time, taking a moment afterward to enjoy the feeling of not being in a dress.

Retrieving the book, she plopped herself down in a cozy armchair and turned to the last story. Finding some sort of strange handwritten cover page, Lu struggled to make out the loopy cursive. It read:

_As this book will be locked where only those with scholarly intentions have access to it, I, the maker of this compilation of tales, see fit to include the only authoritative source of information on the elusive Lucifer Jadis, written by King Caspian I himself._

Something about her written by Caspian the Conqueror? Lu's hands shook slightly as she turned the page. This was going to be interesting….


	15. Escape Attempt

_It has been a week since the castle of the monstrous creatures fell. More importantly, a week has gone by since their red headed leader girl ran off into the forest. Of the groups of soldiers that I have sent to retrieve her, totaling over a hundred men, only one man has made it back alive. He swears that his group found the girl, but she single handedly slaughtered every one of his companions. She left him alive only to deliver a message to me: that I will pay for all I have done to her and her subjects. _

_I must admit, the pleasure that usually comes with vanquishing an enemy has been strangely absent. The reason for this became obvious yesterday, when I was out with a group of soldiers searching for more strange creatures. We found one living in a cave in the side of a mountain. He had odd fury hoofed legs and tiny horns sticking out of his hair. Just as I was about to stab him, he said, " May the great Aslan have mercy on your soul, because Lady Lucifer most certainly won't." _

_After that, I ordered my men to wait outside the cave while I talked to the creature. At first he was very reluctant to share what he knew of the girl Lucifer. Once I threatened to brake off his horns, however, he became quite compliant. From him I learned that the lady Lucifer Jadis has been alive for many many years, but because of her half elven blood, she is likely to remain a child for a very long time. Only recently did she become ruler of Narnia, when the last kings and queens abandoned her just days before the invasion. She was quite close to them, which explains why I found her crying on one of their thrones during the castle's collapse. _

_I wondered why the fawn, whose name was Tumnus, was not doing more to protect his leader's secrets. He said that Lady Lucifer had made it quite clear that if any of her subjects ever chose torcher instead of giving up information about her, she would find out and " Slap them upside the head". Nothing was more important than her Narnian's safety, not even her own. It was clear that Mr. Tumnus thought the girl was insane just as much as I did. What kind of leader was I dealing with?_

_When I had learned enough, I did something that shocked both me and the creature. I let him go. Lucifer has suffered so much pain at my hands, and I know that from now on, no harm will ever come to her because of me. She deserves to keep the fawn. Someday, when I finally find her, I hope she can forgive me for all that I have done. Though I know I will never forgive myself._

_Caspian I_

Lu's entire body and mind felt numb by the end of the passage. The implications of the writing were to much for her twisted little mind to handle. So Caspian the Conqueror hadn't really torchered Narnian's for information about her? She did remember telling the Narnian's about her capture and torcher procedure. If any of them were hurt for withholding info about her, she would personally beat them senseless. They could sing like birds, as long as they were safe.

But the part about Caspian not wanting to hurt her was the real problem. It showed that the Telmarine rulers were not just experiencing some sort of deep magic induced obsession, and that they might actually have loved/love her. Which meant the same was true for Caspian the 10th. Creepy obsession? She could handle that. But this was different.. Too much pressure. Besides, she _hated_ the guy. And, there was the still problem of love existing, because it didn't.

Lu suddenly felt an overwhelming urge to escape, to run as far away from the terrifying prince as possible. Pacing the room like a caged lioness, her eyes searched the room desperately. There had to be a way out, and she had to find it before Caspian came back. Looking him in the eyes after learning that he really, truly, might love her was a downright terrifying idea. A laundry shute maybe? No, it was hand delivered. Damn.

Lu's gaze gaze fell on the windows, and she decided to inspect them a second time. Pressing the side of her face against the glass, she spotted a tree growing in the courtyard, and it wasn't terribly far from the window. With a lot of luck, Lu would be able to jump into it's branches. But how to get through the glass?

She ran her hands over the edges of the window and tested the latch twice, with no luck. If she broke the glass, someone might hear. Lu stalked back through the room and dropped into a chair in defeat. It was impossible.

Then her eyes fell on the book that had slipped onto the floor, and the reason for her frantic need to escape hit her again. Suddenly, taking chances with someone raising the alarm didn't seem like such a bad idea after all.

Stumbling over to the heavy mug by the bed and snatching it off the floor, Lu picked her way back to the window near the tree.

" At least you'll help me do something right." She grumbled to the mug, which thankfully said nothing in reply.

Cranking her arm back and gripping the mug for the second time that day, she slammed it into the window, which shattered instantly on impact. Cringing from the raining shards of glass, she lifted a boot to tentatively place it on the window sill. Hoisting herself up onto the frame, she eyed her target. The tree was too far away for any rational person to attempt a jump, but Lu was absolutely desperate and less than rational.

Gathering as much strength as she could, Lu crouched like a cat and sprung away from the broken window. Gliding through the air, it seemed she would make it. Her hand grasped at the nearest branch, but it slipped through her fingers, leaving her to tumble into the bushes below.

Rolling over to the gap between the shrubbery and the castle wall, Lu lay there spluttering. Thankfully, the bushes had cushioned her fall enough to prevent any major damage. However, she was completely winded and it was only a matter of time before someone discovered her escape.

After recovering her breath, she stuck her head out of the shrubbery to survey the courtyard. It appeared deserted.

Now, how to get out of the castle? Lu hadn't thought of that, but she figured that if she could make her way to the main gate, then she could wait for it to be opened and slip out. There wasn't much cover in the courtyard, and it would be very hard to blend in, but it did offer a strait shot to the main gait.

Suddenly, the sound of a huge bell tolling echoed around the empty courtyard. What was going on?

Oh right, she had escaped. Lu scowled. This would make things a lot more difficult.

The thunderous sound of marching feet filled the previously silent courtyard. Troops were probably flooding the entire area. It was only a matter of time before they found her, and all the exits were definitely blocked.

Lu sighed hopelessly. There was no hope. Within minutes she would be back in Caspian's steely grasp, and escape would be even more difficult. Now he probably wouldn't even let her out of his sight. She stared up at the leafy foliage of the tree, waiting for the searching soldiers to find her. Wait, what if.. she hid in the tree? The leaves would make it much harder to see her. Brilliant!

Springing herself out of the shrubbery, Lu grasped the lowest tree branch and swung herself like an acrobat into the foliage.

Climbing higher among the branches, she found one thick enough to be comfortable and sat on it, leaning her back against the tree trunk. Closing her eyes, she tried and failed to keep herself from thinking about the cause of her desperation to escape.

Lu believed her extremely messed up child hood had removed any ability that she might have had to love. And the Pevensies leaving her had only reinforced that. She pretended that she didn't believe in love, but that wasn't true. Lu absolutely believed in love, but she considered it more dangerous than anything else in existence. She knew its ability to destroy people first hand, and preferred to avoid it at all costs. She couldn't deal with hurting anyone like that. Physical pain? No problem. But the realm of emotions was something Lu preferred not to meddle in, and with Caspian in love with her, there was no way to avoid that unless she removed herself from the equation.

Plus, she found the odd burning sensation in her stomach that she got when thinking about Caspian's love unpleasant. Lu didn't know what it meant, but it still terrified the life out of her.

She could never love, least of all _him._

" _Lucifer"_

Lu squeaked and jumped, searching around for the source of the familiar voice.

" Aslan!" She hissed. " Where are you?" Lu looked up and focused on a huge nest just a foot from her face. Standing up carefully on the branch, she stuck her nose over the side of it and found one very large egg.

" _You have lost your way child. You are not meant to be alone." _The voice seemed to be coming from the egg..

" Are you stuck in there?" She poked the egg and it wobbled.

Hmm. Very curious.

Lu sniffed the egg. It didn't smell like a lion.

" There! Right there your majesty!" The shout came from the window to Caspian's room. By climbing up to the nest, she had unwittingly exposed herself to one of the searching soldiers.

Crap. Thanks a lot Aslan-egg.

In seconds, the guard was replaced by a furious looking Telmarine prince. As his steely black eyes bored holes through her, she thought she saw a flash of relief in them. But wait...

Lu gasped. He was holding a crossbow.

" Lucifer get down from there." the cold accented voice demanded. Lu gritted her teeth and scowled.

" You'll have to make me." She challenged. Maybe he would shoot her and solve all her problems.

Suddenly a screeching cry echoed around the courtyard. Lu looked up and saw a huge falcon. From the way it was diving strait for her with outstretched talons, she could only assume it was Aslan-egg's mother.

Lu just stood there transfixed as the mother falcon swooped down on her. Those huge talon's were going to do a lot of damage..

Something flew at the swooping bird. There was a soft thud and another screech. Lu watched the great animal fall out of the sky with an arrow sprouting from it's chest. She turned to stare at Caspian, who was re-loading his crossbow.

" You killed it? How could you!"

" It was going to hurt you." The bone chilling voice held no trace of remorse for the slaughter of the majestic creature. Lu looked down in horror at the Aslan-egg. Now it had no mother, and she was to blame.

Reaching out a hand, she carefully scooped up the giant egg and cradled it in her arms.

" I think it's best if you stick with me now." she murmured to the egg.

Lu's head jerked up as a crash sounded right above her. Apparently, Caspian had the ability to make the jump from the window to the tree. Brilliant.

She pressed her back against the tree trunk, clutching the egg to her chest. The prince glared down at Lu, lithely maneuvering to land on the thick branch right in front of her.

" Just a tree. Nothing to see here, move along." she whispered. He scowled.

" You have caused both of us a lot of trouble with this little stunt." He growled. Lu lifted her doe-eyes up to meet his, blinking innocently.

" I don't know what you mean." She huffed, with as much dignity as she could muster. " I'm perfectly within my rights to be in a tree. Hey-" Caspian reached out and grabbed her around the waist, throwing her over his shoulder. Lu held the Aslan-egg up out of harm's way, kicking and thrashing.

The prince's grip on her was painfully tight as he skillfully climbed down to land lightly on the ground. Caspian allowed Lu to slide from his shoulder, but kept an iron hold on her waist. She was terrifyingly aware of how close together they were and could feel goosebumps forming where his hot breath hit her shoulder.

A ring of soldiers stood around the tree, along with Lord Miraz and Lady Prunaprismia. Next to her sort-of mother was Derek, his brow knit with concern. Lu tried to smile at him, but couldn't quite manage it with Caspian standing so close.

One of the guards walked toward her with Lord Miraz, and Lu tried to pull away from Caspian, but he pinned her to his chest.

" Lady Lucifer Jadis, as a prisoner that has attempted escape, you are hereby under arrest." Announced the guard, who reached out and grabbed her wrist, trying to pull her away from the prince. At first it seemed Caspian would not let her go, then his grip slackened and she slipped from it. The guard's hold on her wrist wasn't nearly as tight.

The soldier led her away from the tree, and she could feel Caspian's angry gaze on her back. When she was almost to the ring of guards, Lu yanked her hand out of the soldier's grip and kicked the burly man's legs out from beneath him. The other guards rushed foreward and Lu sprung into the air, somersaulting to land on one's shoulders. Before he could react, she jabbed her boot into a place at the base of his neck that she knew would cause him to collapse. Before he fell, she leapt onto another guard's shoulders, carefully holding up the Aslan-egg.

Lu took down all but two of the soldiers in this manner before one of them wizened up and grabbed her before she could land on him. Thankfully, she was able to keep the egg from getting crushed. Thrashing, she kicked him in the groin and he dropped her, falling to his knees. Lu hit the ground running and sprinted to Derek, thrusting the egg into his hands.

" Careful with that! Keep it for me, will you?" He nodded, dumbfounded. Lu finally managed to smile and pecked him on the cheek. " Good man."

She spun around just in time to dodge a soldier running for her, arm's outstretched. Without the expected collision, he stumbled forward and lost his balance, falling to the ground. Lu smirked, these guys were pathetic.

Then there was a sharp pain at the base of her skull. Darkness started creeping in on the sides of her vision. Lu turned to see Miraz standing behind her holding some sort of cane thing, and Prunaprismia screaming at him. Suddenly Caspian was there, and he punched Miraz in the face so hard the Lord fell on his back. She would have laughed, but the darkness had almost completely engulfed her vision and a horrible buzzing in her ears canceled out all other sound. Hands seized her arms and she assumed one of the soldiers had recovered as she lost consciousness completely.

Lu awoke to the strangest sensation. It was almost like floating, but not quite. Her head felt like it was pulling on her neck..

She opened her eyes to find herself dangling upside down in a cell. If she wasn't mistaken, it was the same cell in which she had spent her first night at the castle. Lu wriggled experimentally and the rope suspending her above the ground started to twist, spinning her slowly. As she turned to face the back of her cell, her eyes connected with a pair of brooding black ones.

" Don't you ever _ever_ do that to me again!" The familiar voice growled, standing up and stalking toward her. Lu's heart sped up in terror. " I spent a whole hour thinking I'd lost you!" Caspian got down on his knees right in front of her, so there faces were inches apart. " And _then_ you had to go and kiss that Derek boy! Do you want me to throw him out a window?"

" What? All I did was peck him on the cheek for taking care of my egg. Whose mother _you_ killed!"

" Lucifer." he whispered. Hearing him say her name sent a shiver down Lu's spine. " You have no idea how scared I was." She looked up in wonder.

" You, scared?"

" Of course, I can't lose you." he murmered, resting a hand on her cheek.

" Sadly, it doesn't look like your going to." She spat. Caspian sighed.

" Is it really that bad?" He asked.

" Yes!" She exclaimed. " Why can't you just let me go! I will _never_ be happy here."

" Why not! What is so damn _horrible_ about this place? About me?" Lu's eyes went unfocused and tears filled them. The extra blood was probably messing with her head, but at the moment she didn't really care.

" Murdurer! You killed them!" she screamed, " You killed them all! I _hate_ you!" Lu thrashed violently as she dangled from the rope, tears pouring from her eyes and dripping onto the floor. Suddenly the rope snapped. Before her head could smash into the floor, Caspian caught her. Lu tore herself away from him and struggled to her feet. She stood only an inch taller than the kneeling prince. He reached out and grabbed her arms, forcing her to look at him.

" No Lucifer, I didn't kill them." She struggled as he dragged her toward him. " Look at me! I'm not him." Caspian grabbed Lu's chin and forced her to meet his piercing gaze.

" I. Am. Not. Him." Lu sobbed harder and beat his chest with tiny fists as the Telmarine Prince pulled her against him. Eventually she gave up struggling and allowed him to hold her, burying her face in his shoulder.

Caspian sat down against the wall, gathering the crying girl up onto his lap. Lu sobbed for a little while before going completely still.

She lifted her head off his shoulder and looked up at him.

" I know your not him." she croaked, " but your still a Telmarine.. Stop looking at me like that!"

" Like what?" he asked, surprised by her sudden outburst.

" Like... Like you love me! I can't stand it, it scares me."

" It's scary that I love you? Why?"

" Love is bad. Really, really bad. I just don't know what to do about it"

The prince looked puzzled, but tightened his hold on her. Lu was suddenly aware of him all around her, like a cage.

" You could love me back." he whispered. Lu sighed and shook her head.

" No, I really can't. _Really_ can't. You don't even know."

" Really." Something was wrong with his eyes. She looked down and started fiddling with the collar of his shirt.

" Are you _really_ going to force me to marry you?" Lu looked up and realized what was wrong. His eyes were much, much darker. Fear clutched at her heart as she became aware of just how close together they were, and what was right beneath her body. His arms were suddenly painfully tight.

" Absolutely."


	16. Accident

**I know your going to shoot me for taking so long, but as it turns out, summer is busier than school! Who'da thunk it? anyway, I experienced my first earthquake ever today and I figured it was probably the god of reviewer's smiting me or something. I know it's kinda short, but theres an important reason why it's up here! ( I only sound drunk cause I'm tired.)**

**I revised the earlier chapters, like 1-3, and added... flashbacks! I guess I miss the Pevensie's so much that I had to write more about them. kinda the wrong way to do it I guess, the story should move forward and not back.** **Anyway-**

Lu looked into the prince's terrifyingly dark eyes and shuddered, which made them go even darker. His breath was suddenly ragged, and she realized just how alone they really were. Lu took her hands from where they had been resting on Caspian's chest and placed them on the sides of his jaw, noting how tense it was.

" Caspian?" She whispered. Lu tried to pull away, but his grip on her was much too tight. She put her arms around his shoulders and pulled herself up into a kneeling position with her knees on the ground on either side of his legs, so she could look levelly into his eyes. " What is the problem?"

She felt the prince's hand moving slowly up her back, leaving a trail of goosebumps in it's wake. His fingers curled around the collar of her shirt and started to tug at it. Shivers ran up and down her spine as his pulling became more forceful.

The fabric started to rip and Lu's mind went numb in shock (again). Her arms tightened desperately around his shoulders.

" Caspian! Don't you dare!" She squeaked, gazing imploringly into his dark eyes. One of her hands slipped off his jaw, moving back to try and stop him from tearing her shirt off, but it was like trying to bend stone. Lu stroked his cheek with her thumb, leaning her forehead against his. " Your better than this." she whispered desperately. Caspian's dark eyes narrowed.

" You don't really think that." He rasped. Lu was stumped, he had a point. Then, as per usual, her mind churned out a completely ridiculous idea for escaping the situation.

Lu began her diabolical plan by twining her fingers into his silky hair, then-

She slammed her lips onto his and started kissing him in a crazy, overenthusiastic way that was sure to send him into shock. This was a success, because Caspian's hand fell away from her torn shirt and his grip on her slackened. Lu smiled delightedly against his mouth, gently nipping his bottom lip so she could pull away from him without being noticed.

As quickly as she could, Lu turned and ran out the cell door. She sprinted through the dungeon exit and out into a hallway without looking back once.

Though she was relieved at having escaped the extremely compromising situation, Lu felt absolutely terrible for toying with Caspian like she had. She would have to apologize or something once he calmed down.

When she came to the end of a corridor, Lu peaked around the corner to make sure the coast was clear. Then, she darted across the hall and behind a door that she figured led to a supply closet, closing it carefully behind her. Pressing her eyes to the slits in the door, Lu watched for the prince and waited to make sure the coast was clear.

" Psst, why are we hiding?" the hissed voice came from directly behind her. She jumped and clapped a hand over her mouth to muffle a shriek of fear.

The supply closet's other inhabitant pulled out a match and lit a lamp on the wall, illuminating the small space. It was none other than Derek.

" You!" squealed Lu, jumping on the grinning boy and wrapping her arms around him in a strangling bear hug, " What the hell are you doing down here?"

" I _was_ going to bust you out, or at least bring you some food, but I heard footsteps and hid in here! How'd you get out?" Lu grimaced.

"It wasn't pretty.." she trailed off, gazing forlornly at the floor. The whole reason she had wanted to escape so badly in the first place was to keep from accidentally screwing with Caspian like she did. Of course, he just _had_ to go and stop her, didn't he? She'd been doing it for him, for Aslan's sake!

_Oh look_, thought Lu, _I've just developed the ability to rationalize anything!_

" Luu-uu, focus up!" Derek waved his hand in front of her face, breaking Lu out of her thoughtful trance. " You don't have to talk about it, it's okay. I understand. But at least eat this!" He whipped the most beautiful thing Lu had ever seen in her life out from behind his back and put it in her hand. It was a sandwich composed only of a thick slice of meat, some cheese, and two slices of... her favorite bread!

Lu focused round green eyes on Derek, then on the food, then on the boy again.

" You. Are. Amazing!" She shoved the thing in her mouth and took a bite that would have made a crocodile proud. It didn't even burn her tongue off. Derek was blushing. Since her mouth was occupied, Lu turned to watch the hallway for guards as she ate, unwittingly exposing the back of her shirt to the boy.

" Er.. Lu? What happened to your shirt?" Derek inquisitively touched the shredded fabric, causing the last little threads that held it together to brake. The thing disintegrated and fell in pieces to the floor of the supply closet. Lu carefully licked her fingers and turned around.

" _Real_ smooth." she teased wryly. Derek was flushed red, thought to his credit, he kept his eyes on her face. Lu wasn't embarrased a bit. She was wearing a farely concealing brazier, and had been stuck in worse around her Narnians. Of course, they weren't strictly speaking human, so it might not have counted..

" I-I'm sorry" Stuttered Derek. Lu waved her hand in dismissal.

" It was going to happen eventually anyway. Besides, you gave me the sandwich. Your still my number one." She stated matter-of-factly.

" Don't you want my shirt or something? How are you going to escape shirtless?" Lu frowned, she hadn't thought of that.

" Don't you need it?"

" Yeah, but- It's indecent! You need it more than I do." Derek grabbed the bottom of his shirt and started pulling it off. Lu sighed. Men- always trying to be noble.

She leaned back in exasperation, expecting the door to stop her, but it had vanished. She fell backwards through the air until-

Her bare back connected with something hard, alive, and familiar. Lu's every nerve exploded in terror as Derek finally got his shirt off. He looked over at her, then his eyes traveled up to what was right behind her and they widened in horror.

_Okay, this was officially not good._

" What. Are. You. Doing." The familiar voice came as a snarl so vicious it paralyzed both of the closet's inhabitants. A steely arm snaked around Lu's waist just as a large hand reached over her shoulder and grabbed Derek by the neck. It flung him out the door, and he slammed against the wall all the way on the other side of the hall. The boy pulled himself to his feet as Lu was pushed to the side. Caspian stepped toward Derek, his expression more murderous than she had ever seen.

Lu watched the prince bring his hand back, and time slowed as adrenaline amped up her elven reflexes. She dashed between him and the boy just before impact, quicker than any human.

***Smash* **

Her entire world shook as Caspian's fist slammed into the side of her head. Stars exploded before her eyes and she fell sideways to lean on Derek.

Lu's whole body shuddered and she could feel cool blood trickling down the side of her face from her hairline. She put a hand on Derek's shoulder and pushed herself back to a standing position, turning to look at Caspian. His expression was full of shock and horror. He blinked and she smiled weakly, her vision flashing from black to color in a way that told her she didn't have long before she lost consciousness.

" It isn't what you think." She murmured, already losing control of her voice, " but now, we're even for the kiss. I'm so sorry about that. Just. Don't. Hurt him." then Lu's mind descended into darkness once again. This was starting to become a regular thing.

**Go and read the flashbacks if you haven't already! And please review to tell me what you think. I kinda need reviews to be able to write. they call my focus back to the story. Otherwise I get distracted by life.**


	17. Nightmare

**Well I feel sheepish.. and sorry. This took a really long time, but I kinda don't have any time anymore. If I told you guys how much work I've taken on, you'd think I was insane. Anyway, I'll try to update more often again.  
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Lu's mind sluggishly clawed it's way towards the light of consciousness. But before this light could be attained, it was snared by a dream. This dream was nothing like anything she had ever experienced. It could be heard and felt, but not seen. And it went something like this:

" _Get her on the bed.. no don't drop her! Do you want to end up hanging from a noose?" The voice was gruff, but high pitched in fear. The other was deeper and more collected._

" _Sorry, slipped. Calm down."_

" _Calm down! Do you even realize how much trouble we'd be in if anything happened to this girl? Have you got the manacle?"_

" _Of course, but it's too big to fit on her wrist. She'll slip out in a second."_

" _What are we going to do? Oh he's going to kill us I just know it!" _

" _Sshh. Now, why don't we try putting it around her neck?" Something cold and smooth touched Lu's neck, but she didn't seem to be able to do anything about it. " There, see? Now lets get back to our post." Two pairs of footsteps receded into the distance._

After a few minutes, she woke up to find herself in Caspian's room with a metal chain attached to a sort of metal collar around her neck. The end of the chain was locked around a bedpost.

" I'm sorry." The familiar voice was filled with remorse and self-loathing. Lu swiveled her head around and fixed suspicious green eyes on the tall dark figure leaning on the frame of the doorway. " Lucifer, you know I would never try to hurt you." his voice reached a pleading tone.

" You seemed pretty close to it in the cell!" Hissed Lu, not five seconds awake and already on the offensive. Caspian's shadowed face twisted in a scowl.

" I'm really sorry about that too. It's just very hard." Lu frowned.

" What's hard?"

" Controlling myself around you. I think it has something to do with the curse, I've never felt anything like it. I just can't think strait."

" Then don't you think it would be better if I stayed away from you?" she sighed, causing Caspian's scowl to deepen. He strode across the room and sat on the bed with her.

" You know I can't-"

" You hit me." Lu stated bluntly, " You hit me, because Derek was trying to give me his shirt. Cause you _shredded_ mine." She glared at the prince. " Is he okay?"

" The boy is in a cell." Relief washed over Lu, at least Derek wasn't dead.

" Why am I chained to your bed?" she asked delicately.

" So you can't run away again." Was Caspian blushing? Lu looked down, she was wearing another of his shirts. " Since you technically escaped the cell, the council has decided to discipline you."

" Like how?" she groaned.

" They're going to tie you to the poles by the training grounds and whip you. Tomorrow." The prince's voice was solemn, but his eyes burned.

" And your okay with this?"

" Of course not!" Rage flared in the pitch black irises and Lu inched back from the ferocious expression on Caspian's face. " You have no idea how hard I fought. Usually I can get the council to do what I want with my... leverage, but this time the lords banded together. They were adamant that you should learn your place."

" Leverage?"

" Blackmail."

" Oh. Weeell. I don't have to get up early for it do I? Cause if I do they're just going to have to wait." Lu grinned cheekily and the prince's lips twitched, but he remained serious.

" About what happened in the cell-" This time it was her turn to blush.

" Look" she interrupted, " Since you punched me, I figure we're even. I'm sorry I did that to you, but my head hurts way too much for us to have this conversation. So can I just sleep now?" Caspian frowned.

" That's not really what- wait, you're sorry.. that you kissed me?" He leaned toward Lu and caught her head in his hands before she could pull away. With their faces only inches apart he whispered, " Lucifer, don't you _ever_ regret kissing me. Even if it is only for a distraction. I know I'll never regret it, I just have to keep a tighter hold on you next time." Lu gasped and rolled away from him as soon as he released her, pulling the covers over her head. The chain attached to her collar pulled her back to the center of the bed, where she brushed against Caspian under the blankets. Steely arms wrapped around her in a flash and dragged her against his chest. " Stop squirming and go to sleep! Little minx.." he grumbled.

" You're not going to try and kill me again like last time, are you?" she wondered.

" _Sleep_ Lucifer."

Lu closed her eyes and drifted surprisingly easily off to sleep.

_She was standing in a familiar hallway, trying to toddle her way to the door at the end. Walking was very hard when you'd only just learned how, so her progress was painfully slow. But she knew that reaching the door was of the utmost importance. Mommy and daddy needed her._

_When Lu finally made it to the end of the hall, she had to reach with all her might for the doorhandle. Twisting it first one way, then the next, she managed to get the door to swing open. Peering around the darkened room, she searched for any signs of her parents. Where had they gone? Lu stumbled on shaky legs through the doorway, heading for the giant bed in the center of the room. Climbing up onto the mattress, she crawled over to where her parent's heads would usually rest._

" _There you are." the voice of her father sounded very off somehow, but that didn't stop her from turning around and smiling brightly at the figure standing in a dark corner of the room._

" _Lulu founded Daddy!" She bubbled, " Where mommy?"_

" _Where indeed." Her father made his way to the bed. Something glinted in his hand, and the usually warm voice was as icy as the walls around them. Lu looked into his bloodshot eyes, and her giggling was abruptly cut off._

" _Daddy go bye bye." the toddler stated gravely._

" _You are an abomination!" snarled the crazy elf. He lifted the shiny thing in his hand and pointed it at her. " Devil child! Die Lucifer." Lu's eyes narrowed. The dagger sliced through the air, headed strait for her heart. She darted her hand into it's path._

_The toddler's shriek rang through the entire castle. She gazed at the blade sticking through the back of her hand. Lu's second scream was less high pitched, no longer the scream of an infant. She looked up, but her father was gone. Standing in his place holding the dagger was Caspian. He wrenched thing out of her hand and Lu whimpered. The prince was grinning viciously, eyes glittering. Tossing the dagger aside, he reached out and wrapped his hands around her neck. His grip tightened and Lu's windpipe was crushed. He pushed her down onto the bed and climbed on top of her, his hands felt more like cold metal than skin. _

_Then, the pressure abruptly disappeared as Caspian whirled around and stood in front of the bed. He was staring at something in the doorway. She peaked around him and saw her mother with her mouth twisted in a cruelly satisfied smirk. The prince grabbed the dagger off the floor, never turning his back on the ice witch. Lu tried to pass him to reach her mother, but he pushed her behind him and stood in front of her protectively. The witch pulled a sword out from behind her back and swung it at Caspian, but he blocked her with the dagger. They began to fight, but the tiny knife soon broke under the enormous pressure of the Jadis's slashes. She pulled her sword back and thrust it strait toward Caspian's chest. _

" _NO!"_

" Wake up Lucifer!" he pleaded.

" No no no NO _NO_!" Lu awoke screaming. Her throat felt raw, like she had been at it for a while.

" Please wake up!" This time the voice was frantic. She thrashed and kicked, but two arms wrapped around her waist from behind and held her in place.

Eventually, the room came into focus and Lu relaxed against the chest of the young man behind her. Caspian sighed in relief. Before either of them said anything, she put her head in her hands and started sobbing her heart out.

It had been a very long time since that particular part of her child hood had surfaced in a nightmare. And this time it had included Caspian. All the new stress must have been causing her old horrors to resurface.

" Lucifer, please tell me what's wrong." The soft voice drew her attention back to reality. She twisted in Caspian's arms until she was facing him and stared into his dark eyes in wonder. Reaching up, she touched the spot on his chest that had been impaled by the witch in her dream.

" Your okay." She said in wonder. He took the hand that was on his chest and ran his thumb over her palm. Crimson liquid smeared over her skin.

" What the-" Caspian turned her hand over to reveal a bloody spot where there was usually scar tissue. Lu cringed as he turned his intense gaze on her. " How did you get this?"

" It's not a pretty story." She mumbled, looking back up at him. His eyes were full of concern, pleading with her to tell him what was wrong. Lu's heart lurched. "_ STOP IT!"_ she screamed, wrenching herself away from him and throwing herself off the bed.

She turned back to face him while slowly backing away towards the door.

" Stop what?" He asked cautiously. Lu glared.

" Stop _caring_ so much!" she hissed, " Your making it so hard!"

" Hard to what?"

" To keep hating you!" her eyes filled with horror and she covered her mouth. Turning around, Lu fled from the room.

There, she came face to face with two large guards.

" We're here to take you to the training grounds." one of them announced. She remembered her "appointment" and grimaced. At least getting the daylights whipped out of her might get Lu back to her normal Telmarine hating self again.

" Good. Lets go."

**Please review! I'm not sure that this story is even worth cutting into my worktime for at this point, and I really need some support!**


	18. Appointment

**Oka****y I feel like a terrible person. I accidentally deleted this and the prospect of re-typing was so depressing...** **anyway, here it is. Enjoy hopefully! And at the bottom AN, I invented a new word. See if you can spot it!  
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Lu was almost jogging to keep up with the guards huge strides as they led her out onto a grassy field. Two ominous looking objects stood tall and dark against the grass, a ways away from the actual training ground. Sounds of combat practice drifted toward Lu's ears and filled her with memories of drilling her Narnians.

A crowd was already gathered around the poles, and she could see all of the council lords among them. It figured that the Telmarines would all want to watch someone getting whipped. As she and the guards approached the poles, someone ran out from the crowd to meet them. It was Prunaprismia, her skirts flapping in the breeze.

" Lu! Are you alright?" She flung her arms around Lu without waiting for a reply, then pulled back to examine the wound on the side of her head. " You poor thing! It looks better though."

" Wait, what? How did you know about it?" she pointed to the wound on her head, which wasn't exactly visible. The lady had seen it before.

" Caspian took you to the infirmary dear." explained Prunaprismia, " You were unconscious the whole time. But you should have seen that boy! He was _so _worried. I've never even seen that kind of emotion from him, unless of course it was rage. I didn't even have the heart to chew him out for hurting you! I did anyway, of course-that boy needs to learn to be more careful with you-but it lacked it's usual vigor." Lu giggled.

" Did you really throw a vase at his head when he moved me to his room?" she asked.

" Sure did!" the lady exclaimed as they passed the crowd, " I missed though. The bloody reflexes on that boy!" Lu nodded knowingly. She had experienced that first-hand. " I'll get him next time though." The lady hissed conspiratorially. Lu giggled hysterically. " This whipping thing is ridiculous though, they usually only do it to disobedient soldiers, and your just a little girl! I tried so hard to talk Miraz out of it! Guilt tripping, tantrums, crying, threats, the works. He's sleeping on the couch now. I've got one of the best doctors in the city waiting in the crowd should anything happen. Just please-" Prunaprismia looked seriously down at Lu, " don't black out or anything. Lots of healthy young men have died on those two poles, and prisoner's who try to escape aren't exactly supposed to live, that's why the lash count is so high. But your pretty tough. Don't give in. Good luck." They had reached the poles. The lady left and joined the crowd. One of the guards tied her hands to the poles and they both backed a way a ways.

Lu stood there alone, feeling tiny compared to the two huge black poles. She turned to examine one, running her hand over it lightly. Feeling strange ridges in the wood, she jerked her hand away with a squeak. Peering closer at the pole, Lu realized it was covered in claw marks from the poles last visitors. With a shiver, she realized that the owners of those marks could have died right there. Would she survive? Did she really want to? If she didn't, then she wouldn't have to keep fighting. No more war..no more crazy prince..

_NO! _Lu screamed in her head, those were quitter thoughts. And Lucifer Jadis was not a quitter.

Lord Miraz stepped in front of the crowd and Lu, drawing everyone's attention.

" We are gathered here today," he announced, "to witness the punishing of the prisoner Lucifer Jadis for her attempted escape." Lu spat on the ground in front of him.

" Smarmy bastard" she growled. Miraz scowled at her.

A burly man holding a whip stepped out of the crowd and walked behind her. One of the guards came and ripped through the back of her shirt, exposing her skin to the whip. Lu looked at the ground and gritted her teeth. She would survive this. For her Narnians. For Cas- wait what!

Before that thought could be completed, the whip whistled thought the air and she flinched, but the pain never came.

" Don't you _dare_ hurt her." Lu heard the familiar snarl and let out a sigh of relief, just as the crowd gasped. Straining her neck, she twisted her head around to see Caspian standing right behind her with the tip of the whip in his hand. He had caught it before it could touch her.

" My prince-" started Miraz, but Caspian cut him off.

" I will take her place, as is my right under law." He glared at Miraz, daring him to argue. Lu spun around as soon as the guards untied her.

" I don't need your help!" she hissed furiously. Why in the world was he doing this for her?

" Stand back Lucifer." Caspian's gaze softened as he addressed her, but he then glared over her head at someone in the crowd. Suddenly, Lu was being dragged backwards by someone surprisingly strong. It was Prunaprismia.

As she was pulled into the crowd, Caspian tore off his shirt and allowed the guards to tie his hands to the poles. Everyone was murmuring uncertainly, and Miraz had an unreadable expression on his face. The whip wielder, however, looked distinctly worried. Lu struggled madly against Prunaprismia, but the lady's grip was too good.

The first strike opened a bleeding gash across the prince's back. He hung his head and stood there silently. After the first five, his back was a criss-cross of bloody slash marks. For some reason, Lu had started whimpering with every lash of the whip. Prunaprismia desperately tightened her hold on the girl. By ten, tears were streaming down her face. At twenty, her screams rang though the silent crowd with every strike. After thirty, she started making a high pitched keening noise. At forty seven, she broke away from Prunaprismia and launched herself at the man holding the whip. Latching onto his arm, she glared murderously into his fearful eyes.

" Hit him one more time and I swear on Aslan I'll kill you." She hissed through her tears. He looked for a sign from Lord Miraz, who nodded, and lowered the whip. Lu wrenched it from his hand and flung it away, reaching in her boot for a knife. She ran to Caspian and carefully cut his hands loose from the poles, murmuring encouragement brokenly. " Come on, hang in there! I know you can, your way tougher than this. If you die on me, I never want to see you again!"

Without the support of the poles the prince started to sway, so Lu scurried around in front of him, letting him lean on her. Tears streamed harder down her cheeks as he put his arms around her to keep from falling.

" Can you walk?" she whispered. He nodded. " Mother!" Lu called in a voice choked by sobs, " Come show me where the infirmary is!" Prunaprismia hurried over to them.

" It's just over here." the lady turned in the direction of a door on the side of the castle. " had to be close to the training grounds, you see." she chattered nervously, leading them towards the door. Lu followed, carefully supporting Caspian.

" You lot are barbarians!" Lu shouted at the crowd as they passed by. All the Telmarines were muttering and eying her fearfully.

Prunaprismia held the door open for them, and Lu guided Caspian over to one of the beds, where she helped him lie down on his stomach. Up close, the wounds on his back were even more gruesome. Lu was careful not to let any tears fall on them. She sat down on the bed right next to the prince and yanked off one of her boots.

" I can go get that doctor." offered Prunaprismia.

" No, that's okay." said Lu distractedly, she was fishing around inside of her boot.

" I think he needs one." The lady whispered gently, Caspian seemed to have fallen unconscious on the bed. Lu shook her head, then exclaimed in delight, pulling a tiny vial out of her boot.

" I got it!" uncorking 'it', she poured a tiny drop of reddish liquid onto her finger. Stealing herself, she pressed her finger to Caspian's lips.

Prunaprismia gasped in shock. The horrendous wounds were healing, until it looked as if he'd never been whipped in the first place. Lu traced her fingers over the healthy skin, right where the gashes had been. Caspian didn't even twitch in his sleep, and her tear stained face broke into a smile.

" Brilliant." she choked.

" but illegal" stated Prunaprismia in awe.

" I don't care, he never should have done it in the first place. Besides, it's not as if people are going to be looking under his shirt for scars or anything." The lady smiled knowingly.

" I thought you didn't like him." she said slyly.

" I don't." stated Lu blandly, "I hate him."

" Then why were you screaming? Crying? Lu, why are you _still_ crying?" Lu wiped under her eyes, trying to stem the constant flow of tears. She looked out one of the huge infirmary windows. The crowd had mostly dispersed.

" I don't know." she choked, then chuckled brokenly, " It's kinda pathetic, I guess I'm really a softie."

" You have a big heart Lu, I can tell." The lady sighed, " It wants to love people, so why don't you let it?" she shook her head. " Never mind, I should leave you alone, I expect he'll wake up soon."

Lu watched the door close behind the lady with rising panic. What would Caspian think about what she had done? And even worse, Lu realized she hadn't talked to him since he'd asked her about the wound on her hand and she'd stormed out on him. The Prince stirred and Lu froze with sparse tears still sliding down her face.

In the absence of any other plan, she decided to be angry.

" What the hell were you thinking!" Her shout was a bit shaky from all the crying, which sort of ruined the effect, but she carried on nonetheless. " I would have been fine! I _don't need you_!" Caspian sat up, and Lu's hand slid off his back. She yanked it away, wondering how it had ended up there in the first place.

" People die on those poles all the time, I couldn't let you get hurt." Lu glared at him.

" What, so only _you _get to hurt me?"

" That was an accident!" The prince snarled. Lu jumped back off the bed in fear at his unexpected response and he grimaced. " I'm sorry," Caspian sighed, standing up and wrapping his arms around her, pulling her back onto the bed. " I won't let anything hurt you Lucifer, why can't you just accept that?" He reached up and wiped some of her tears away. " I love you." he murmured. Lu stared blankly at the wall behind him and let out a long, shaky breath.

" Caspian." It felt like the first time she had ever said his name, " What if, hypothetically, I can't for some strange and obscure reason stand seeing you get hurt either?" The prince frowned.

" So you really were screaming?" Lu nodded sadly and Caspian's eyes widened. " and you threatened the guard." She nodded again, blushing this time. " Why doesn't my back hurt?" Lu stared at the ground.

" I, er- healed you." The prince frowned.

" You know that's-"

" I know! But I couldn't let you hurt like that, not for me." She hissed " Not after that dream. I was so scared." Lu started to shake, and she tried to push away from Caspian but he wouldn't let her go.

" Can you tell me about the dream now?" the prince asked. Lu cringed and avoided his eyes, lest she see in them what she had seen last time.

" You really don't want to know." she murmured. He took the hand that had been mysteriously bleeding earlier and held it up, tracing a finger lightly over the fresh scab.

" You can trust me Lucifer. I want to know what happened to you." Lu finally looked up into his eyes. To her surprise, she saw kindness there. The obsessive light had dimmed, revealing a caring concern. It made her feel weird inside, around the area where she supposed her heart would be. If she had one.

She decided to tell him, just to get him to quit bothering her about it.

At least, that's what she told herself.

**Kay, so reviews need to happen. This only got written because of one I got a few days ago. Something about pants? anyway, if I can get ten reviews, I'll update again this weekened. (which means like, tomorrow or the next day) If not, I don't know. But writing this makes me happy, so abandonation probably isn't going to happen. I loooooooove you guys. That is if, you know, you exist. So please prove that you do!.**


	19. Duel

**Wow I'm obnoxious XD. Sorries guys. But I have a confession. That thing that the dictator of North Korea's kids are in, the International Baccalaureate Program? Well I'm in it, which is why I don't update as much now. Wanna know more?- look on youtube. Then you might understand. Anyway, it was great to find out you guys actually exist and that I'm not just talking to myself! ;). Enjoy! **

" You know that I'm part elf and that my mother was the ice witch, right?" Caspian nodded carefully, as if one wrong move could make her change her mind about sharing this with him. " Anyway, in order to get my dad to love her, Jadis had to put some kind of spell on him. When I was about six by elf reckoning, my dad broke the spell. He tried to kill me, but I stopped him." She glanced at her wounded hand, still in Caspian's grip, " So then my mom killed him, and the other elves took me away. My grandma tried to hide me, but Jadis killed all them too. Then Aslan the great lion rescued me and raised me in the mountains. I thought I was a lion for the looongest time." Lu smiled at the memory. " there, now you know." She turned sad green eyes towards hard black ones, afraid of seeing the pity that had been there before.

But his eyes were blank, and he was as still as a statue.

" And the dream?" he asked quietly, still afraid of scaring her off.

" I was reliving the day my father tried to kill me, but then he turned into you." Caspian's eyes betrayed his surprise. " And then my mother stabbed you, and I woke up. That's all." Lu looked at the ground, waiting for the flood of pity that always came after her story. Always, with one exception.

She felt a weight on her shoulder. It was Caspian's hand.

" Lucifer" his voice was calm and restrained, but beneath the surface was a strange intensity, " When I was fifteen, I had a dream. There was a pale girl with red hair on a ship, standing by the rail. I could feel people behind and around me, but they were just shadows. Only the girl's face was clear to me. She looked upset, her hands were shaking and one held a pole with some sort of flag. I wanted to tell her everything was going to be alright, but when I tried to reach her she backed away. The girl climbed onto the edge of the ship and jumped into the sea. I ran to follow, but something was holding me back. Then I woke up." Caspian looked down at her intently, " That was my first dream about you. Every night since, there's been a new one. Eventually I found the place where everything related to you was locked away, and then I knew you were real. I tried to imagine what you were like, and all I wanted to do was meet you." He put a finger beneath her chin and tilted her head so she was forced to meet his eyes. " Your better than I could ever have dreamed. You are good Lu, even if you don't see it. And so, so strong. You are all that I want." The sincerity of his words shocked her, and their lack of pity. But somewhere deep inside Lu, the place where her most harebrained schemes were formed, saw the prince's last statement as a challenge. Which of course led to the beginnings of a plan..

" Do you still hate me?" the prince interrupted Lu's thoughts and she blinked owlishly up at him. Then her eyes narrowed angrily.

" Of course I do!" She answered, " Your always manhandling me, you stole my punishment, and I'm still a freaking prisoner. Speaking of prisoners, can we go let Derek out?" Caspian scowled.

" What is it about that boy?" He growled, snaking his arms around her and pulling her against him.

" He's nice." she squeaked, " and he isn't forcing me to marry him." His arms went slack and she was able to slip out of them, scampering across the room towards the door. " C' mon! It's not like he actually did anything wrong."

" Except make me want to kill him." muttered Caspian, tugging on his shirt and following her out the door. Lu waited for him to catch up, seeing as she had no idea how to find the dungeon by herself.

" Have you killed ma-"

" All this is my fault." He interrupted. Lu thought she saw his eyes flash, like he had known what she had been about to ask. Her stomach dropped.

" What?" She asked distractedly.

"I made you run out of the cell in the first place, when I- well-" Caspian trailed off.

" Oh that." Lu pulled a half-hearted grimace, " I would have tried to escape anyways."

" I'm sorry about that." He said sincerely, glancing at her as they walked.

" Hey, the shirt was yours, so no harm done." Lu lied, speeding up her step a little and grabbing the handle of the dungeon door. She could feel his gaze boring into her back.

" No." Caspian growled. Grabbing her shoulders, he pulled her away from the door and slammed her back against the wall. Lu tried to squirm away but he was holding her too tight. " It shouldn't have happened and I'm sorry. Don't act like it was nothing Lucifer, I can _see_ that it scared you." She glared sullenly up at him.

" Why does it even matter? It's not like your going to give me any choices! Your forcing me to marry you, remember?" The prince sighed, brushing the back of his hand over her cheek.

" That's not going to happen until I think your ready." he whispered. Lu's eyes blazed with indignation.

" Until _you_ think-!" She gasped, " Caspian! That's not-" her eyes filled with tears. " You can't just decide my life like that! It's _mine, _and I get to make the decisions. Besides, I will _never_ be ready to be with you." Lu glared at him until his hands slipped off her. Grabbing the door handle for the second time, she entered the dungeon willingly for the first time.

" Derek!" Lu's shout echoed around the room. She immediately ran to the cell he was in and grabbed the bars, shaking them. The boy was asleep on the floor. " Derek! Wake up we've come to bust you out!" His eyes blinked open and found her.

" We? Lu, considering what happened to you, I'd really rather wait-" Caspian entered the room, holding a ring of keys and glaring at Derek.

" Don't be silly boy." Derek stared at him, fear evident in his tired eyes. Suddenly, he seemed to change his mind about leaving. The prince opened the cell door and it grated open. Lu couldn't help but notice that Caspian had known which key to use a lot better than the actual jailer.

" Thank you your majesty." The boy was like a deer caught in headlights, and his eyes kept darting to Caspian nervously. Lu frowned and looked between him and the prince, wondering what was keeping Derek so on edge. Besides Caspian's generally terrifying stature. What was she missing?

" Hey Derek, do you still have that egg I gave you?" she asked. Derek answered her while staring at Caspian's back as he lead them out of the dungeon.

" Yep, it's up in my room." Lu beamed.

" Yes!" she punched the air, then turned hopefully to Caspian, " Can we go and get it?"

" Fine." He sighed. Lu beamed in delight, taking both of their hands and pulling them down the hall.

" Are you always this enthusiastic?" Derek grumbled, still extremely shaken up.

" Of course not!" she answered enthusiastically, tugging them around a corner towards a staircase.

The group stopped suddenly when someone appeared directly in front of them. It was a girl around Derek's age. She curtsied to Caspian and smiled at Derek, but Lu was ignored.

" Your majesty!" she simpered. Her voice was high, feminine, and made Lu want to tell her to never, ever speak again. But she kept her mouth shut, dropping both Caspian and Derek's hands. " I've been looking all over for you! I heard about what happened today, how dreadful. Are you all right?"

" I am well." Answered Caspian tersely. Derek, who had been frozen in surprise, blinked and turned his head to look at Lu. He seemed to be gaging her reaction to this new girl.

" I was wondering," she continued, " If you would like to accompany me on a walk through the garden?"

" I am occupied." stated Caspian. Lu, who had been staring wide-eyed at the girl from the first word, had a flash of inspiration.

" Don't be rude!" she exclaimed, stepping away from the prince and toward Derek, " you two run along." Lu made shewing motions in their direction. The girl looked at her for the first time. The moment she stopped staring at Caspian, Lu though she saw rage flash in his eyes.

" I don't believe we've met." she said coldly. " who are you?" though her tone implied that she already knew. Derek was flat out glaring at the girl now, and Caspian was throwing her more subtle murderous glances.

" This is Lucifer Jadis." the prince answered for her in a voice that would have had anyone else running for the hills.

" But everyone calls me Lu." she added in a friendlier tone. " Who are you?"

" I am Prunella, daughter of lord Gergiore." she said with barely concealed disdain. Usually, Lu didn't tolerate disrespect from anyone, but she had a plan. One that rested on her getting Caspian to go with the girl.

" That's nice." Lu commented blandly. Caspian was frowning at her in concern, like something was wrong. She grabbed Derek's arm and turned to leave with him when someone's familiar iron grip was around her wrist. Caspian was right behind her.

" Don't try anything." he growled. Lu threw him a supremely innocent look.

" Me? Never!" she gasped indignantly, then winked at the girl, who was tapping her foot impatiently. "have fun!" she said as suggestively as she could.

Derek pulled her around a corner and up a flight of stairs.

" What the hell are you playing at?" raged the boy, " Did you even notice the way she was treating you?" Lu had gone silent, leaning her back against the wall. She sighed heavily and looked grimly at Derek.

" Of course I did, how could I not? But before I could beat the living daylights out of her, I had an idea. What if I can get Caspian to fall in love with someone else?" She looked up hopefully for his response. To her surprise, he was staring at her in horror,

" Are you insane? That would never work! Don't you understand? The other kings _died_ trying to find you, and you think Caspian's going to give that up for some random Telmarine girl that's been throwing herself at him his whole life?"

" It's worth a shot!" exclaimed Lu. Derek sighed exasperatedly. " So, are you in or are you in?"

" Fine." Lu smiled triumphantly and started walking down the corridor "but only to make sure you don't provoke the prince into killing anyone." he grumbled too quietly for her to hear.

" So for now, we go and get the egg. That gives Prunella time to work on Caspian, then we'll do some undercover checking on her progress!" Lu was practically bounding down the hall with enthusiasm, dragging Derek along behind her. When they finally reached his room, she jumped inside and looked around expectantly. " Where is it?" The boy threw back his bedsheets.

" I put it here to keep it warm, but it's gone!" He started tearing apart the bed, while Lu stuck her head under it.

" Maybe it rolled away?" she suggested, crawling around the room and inspecting underneath various furniture.

" Er, Lu?" his face was pale, and he was staring at something on the sheet-less bed. " You might wanna.."

" What? What is it?" Lu jumped onto the bed and saw what he had been staring at. There, standing out against the blue of the bed, was the remnants of her Aslan Egg. " Sweet mother of Aslan."

Suddenly, there was a slight squeaking noise. Lu looked at the open window and saw the baby falcon. It had to be the ugliest thing she had ever seen in her life, and was somehow perched on the edge of the window sill. The slightest push would have it tumbling down into the courtyard below. She crept carefully towards it, Derek close behind. If the bird was startled, it would fall.

When they had almost reached the creature, it wobbled, then fell. Lu leaped the rest of the distance, sailing out the window and catching the feathery thing in her hands. Derek lunged after and grabbed her by the ankle.

She was dangling out of the window by one leg and clutching the thing by it's sharp little claws. A few guards had been loitering in the courtyard and rushed over, staring up at her in amazement and fear.

" Darn you stupid little fur... feather ball!" growled Lu, her leg starting to cramp as Derek attempted to hoist her back through the window. The baby falcon was squirming and doing it's best to break free, which of course would cause it to fall and die.

" Lu, you have no right to say that!" Groaned Derek as he slowly managed to pull her back inside, " _It_ fell, _you_ jumped."

" Hey!" Lu exclaimed, tumbling into the room, " _I _had a reason! _It_ was just being dumb. So there." she glared at the ruffled ball of feathers perched indignantly on her palm, just as it glared condescendingly back at her.

" Not very pretty, is it?" Derek was right, the thing was awkward and covered in slightly slimy feathers.

" It thinks it's better than me." observed Lu angrily, " I can tell."

" It's just tired! Look at it." The thing curled up in Lu's hand and went still. It was indeed asleep, even though it had been dangling out the window not two minutes ago.

" The nerve! Nearly gave me a heart attack and now it thinks it can just-!" She glared at the baby bird, but it didn't seem to notice or care. Derek eyed her murderous expression and rescued the sleeping falcon from its homicidal surrogate mother, placing it back on his bed and pulling Lu out of the room.

" I think birdy-mummy needs to simmer down some, before she eats her baby." he murmured. Thankful, Lu didn't hear him, because she probably would have gone ballistic. She was too busy having a thought.

Derek's POV (pronounced p-ah-v)

" Soooo, Derek." He only needed one look to know she had already forgotten her anger at the bird, "What do you say to doing some.. secret observing of Caspian and Prunella? Just to see if the plan is working?" The crafty light in her eyes gave him the chills. Didn't she understand what she was dealing with?

" Secret observing, you mean spying?" Lu gave an exaggerated gasp of indignance.

" Spying? Never! Secret observing is completely legitimate, and often includes constructive interference."

" Constructive interference? You mean being a manipulative little-"

" You in or out?" she cut him off. Derek knew there was only one answer. He had to make sure she didn't do anything unusually stupid, because a lot of people would suffer if she did.

" Okay."

Lu's POV

It took them forever to find Caspian and Prunella. They weren't in the gardens, or any of the courtyards. Eventually Derek suggested trying the training grounds, and finally they were successful. Their targets were watching some sort of fencing match.

Lu pulled Derek behind some conveniently placed barrels before they could be seen. Peaking her nose around the pile, she took stock of the Caspian-Prunella situation.

" Damn!" she cursed. Derek stuck his head around the barrels too.

" Oh wow." he said, " He is _so_ not into that. I hate to say it, Lu but..." The prince had a barely concealed scowl on his face, and Prunella seemed to be chattering away oblivious to the danger she was in. Between them and their observers was a fenced in area where two men were doing their best to kill each other with swords.

" No! The situation can still be remedied!" Protested Lu. What if she did something really..., " Hey Derek, what are these guys doing?" she pointed to the men with swords.

" Their dueling." explained Derek, " it's something Telmarines do to solve disputes of pretty much any kind."

" huh." responded Lu distractedly, wondering just how barbaric this society was. Next thing she knew, they'd be trying to hang someone.. Wait-(metaphoric light bulb appears), " What kinds of disputes exactly?" Lu clambered around the barrels so she could stare frantically at Derek.

" Err, any?" he said, " Wait. Just. A. Minute. I know what your on about. Lu, if you do this-"

" It's BRILLIANT!" she exclaimed, " I can't think of a better way-"

" No! Lu you're going to get yourself killed! He'll slice you up into little bite size pieces and that'll be the end of everything." Lu shrugged.

" I can live with that." she sprang out from behind their cover and trotted around to reach Caspian and Prunella. Derek stumbled out behind Lu, trying to catch her before she could challenge her captor.

" Lu please don't do it!" he hissed, grabbing her arm the exact second that Caspian turned to look at them. The faint scowl became a murderous snarl in a heartbeat.

" Caspian!" called Lu delightedly, shaking Derek off, " I had an idea!"

" Oh? And what would that be?" he asked, reaching out to snag her wrist.

" I'm challenging you to a duel. And if I win, you have to let me go." Explained Lu seriously. Caspian's black eyes widened in horror, and she thought her wrist was going to snap.

" Where did you get such a ridiculous idea?" The prince's voice was deceptively calm, but his furious gaze zeroed in on Derek behind her. Lu could almost feel the boy's fear.

" Hey" Derek said, raising his hands defensively, " I was completely against this!"

" I think it's a good idea." Prunella, who had been in a calculating silence since Lu's arrival, spoke up. Lu turned to beam at her.

" Are you crazy?" Snarled Caspian, " You know exactly what-"

" It would solve everyone's problems." Prunella's cold stare was fixed on Lu.

" She's right" squeaked Lu, whose wrist was in a great deal of pain. Caspian put his arm around her shoulders and held her right in front of him.

" Don't do this." he pleaded. " Just, watch the end of this one." he tugged her over to the fence around the two men already dueling. They had obviously been at it for a while, because both were barely doing more than swinging their swords at each other with no aim or skill. Caspian and Lu watched for about five minutes before anything changed. Then, one of the men got in a lucky shot and twisted the other's sword out of his hand, and in the same stroke, lopped off the man's head.

Caspian turned to look at Lu, who had been standing silently the entire time.

" Still want to do this?" Her eyes had gone blank, but she nodded resolutely. Caspian led her over to the man who had refereed the last duel.

" Your majesty!" he bowed, " What can I do for you?" the man shifted uncomfortably under Caspian's gaze. The tension radiating off the prince was almost tangible.

" I've challenged him to a duel." Lu spoke up helpfully. The referee looked back and forth between the towering prince and the little flame headed girl, utter disbelief etched on hid face.

" This is a really bad joke." he said uncertainly. Caspian's eyes narrowed.

" Should we go find someone else?" his voice was harsh enough to make Lu flinch. The referee's blood vacated his face.

" No, no that won't be necessary. What are the terms?" He stammered.

" If I win, I get to go back where I came from." Lu piped up after a few seconds. The Ref looked to Caspian.

" And if I win," The prince turned to gaze directly at Lu, black eyes burning, " you have to promise to stay and eventually be my wife." She choked and backed up on hearing the word "wife" from him. It was like a curse, but also brought back memories of a different boy saying that word to her..

" What if you change your mind?" she asked hopefully, glancing at Prunella.

" That will never happen Lucifer." Caspian was looking at her so intently it made her nervous(er).

" So, what weapons will be used?" the Ref inquired timidly.

" Swords?" said Caspian. Lu nodded.

They were each handed a weapon and the fence gate closed behind them by the now-trembling Referee. He kept sending her pitying glances, just as Derek was staring mortifiedly at her from across the fenced area. Lu was relieved someone had cleaned up the body. Then she looked at Caspian and her breath was taken away.

With a sword in hand, the Prince looked a thousand times more dangerous than before. His tall, dark, muscular frame no longer just hinting at it's ability to kill. Lu could imagine how many others had stood in front of him like this, and knew that it had been the last thing any of them had ever seen. His face was grim, but Lu couldn't help but notice just how handsome he was, which was more shocking than the fact that one of them was about to die. He was like a fallen angel, towering fiercely over her. Dark silky hair, black eyes filled with hate-

He looked like Caspian the Conqueror. A vicious monster capable of destroying her life and that of countless others. Tying Caspian to his ancestor made Lu itch to test herself against him. She wanted revenge for everything, and now was her chance to have it.

She had never actually fought any of the Telmarine ruling line, but she did recall the time she attacked the first king with her knives while he was unarmed. She hadn't lasted more than a minute.

This was going to end badly.

**oooh. What's gonna happen next? New challenge- review and tell me what your favorite part of the story is! Mucho reviews=I find time to update, cause their sort of like reminders, that make me so happy I go crosseyed!**


	20. Two Steps Back

**Sooo... ENjoy!**

" Begin!" called the ref.

Lu swung as hard as she could at Caspian's head, hoping to catch him off guard by shear speed. Out of nowhere the Prince's sword blocked hers; the impact sending shock waves up her arm. Quick as a fox, she struck again, this time at his long legs. The force of the swords' collision was enough to bounce Lu back a few feet, but she leapt back into place and continued swinging fiercely at her target.

No matter how hard or fast she swung the sword, no matter how complicated her strategy became, he was always blocking her. She never gained an inch, nor did he ever raise his sword offensively. Lu was beginning to gasp for air, but he remained the same as when they began.

The only people she had sparred with who possessed the skill to match her elven speed were Peter and Edmund, but even to them it had been a stretch. Caspian made her feel like a rookie, and it scared her. When he wanted to bring her down, there wouldn't be anything she would be able to do about it.

Realizing the futility of her efforts, Lu dropped the sword to her side and backed up a foot. She glanced at his weapon wearily, then up at the piercing black eyes.

" Caspian, what are you doing?" She hissed angrily, " Maybe you didn't get the memo, but this is the part where you try to kill me." The prince glared down at her, just as drops of water began to fall from the overcast sky. The leather bound hilt slid from his fingers and hit the grass with a thump. Lu's eyes widened in horror. " Pick it up" she commanded desperately. Caspian shook his head. " Fight back dammit!" Lu raised her sword and swung it at his head.

Something stopped the blade just a breath away from the prince's cheek. Lu realized then that she had always been counting on him to stop her. Now that she knew he wouldn't, she couldn't bring herself to do it. Something had changed.

Lu tilted her head up to the sky and screamed, tears of frustration leaked from green eyes.

" What's wrong with me?" she shrieked at the clouds. " Why won't you fight?" she addressed Caspian a bit more calmly.

" I don't want to hurt you. I can't. No matter what. If you have to kill me.." He dropped to his knees, so he was almost level with her standing. Lu shook her head, causing water droplets to fly away from fiery curls.

" I can't." she choked, tossing her sword away and stepping toward the prince. " I can't do it either."

" Why not?" The exotically accented voice was full of wonder. His pitch black eyes, once so full of hate, shown with hope. Lu shook her head again and a hysterical giggle burst from her lips.

" This is impossible!" she chuckled loopily. Caspian looked like he was afraid she had finally snapped. And who's to say she hadn't? Could she really, given the opportunity, not want him dead? Did she trust him enough to want him to live? Did she hate him enough for him to die?

A few days ago, the answer would have been a huge, resounding yes. But things were different now. She knew him as more than the image of Caspian the Conqueror. She trusted him.

Reaching out and grabbing her waist, he tugged her against his chest and held her there, rubbing her back comfortingly. She leaned into him, wrapping her arms around his neck and drying her eyes.

" It's going to be okay." he murmured, his deep voice vibrating through her entire body. She gave another insane chuckle and pulled her head back a bit to look into his eyes.

" No it's not." she protested, " I don't think I hate you anymore." Caspian's eyes widened in shock and his mouth dropped open a fraction. Lu's eyes flickered to it for a second, for no reason in particular, then snapped back to his and narrowed. " Hey, don't think this changes anything." she hissed, " just because I won't kill you doesn't mean I want to be here." Then Lu had an idea, just because neither was going to kill the other, didn't mean she couldn't win the fight, right?

Lu disentangled herself from his arms and stepped back a few feet. As he gazed at her questioningly, she launched herself at him with as much force as she could muster. The prince fell backward onto the ground with Lu on top of him., trying her best to pin him down.

Sadly, Caspian wasn't shocked at all by this surprise attack. He grabbed Lu and flipped the squirming girl onto the ground, rolling on top of her. One by one, her flailing limbs were pinned to the ground by his.

Immobilized beneath her rival, Lu glared up into the twin slits of black. Caspian's lips twisted in a feral grin.

To both of their surprise and consternation, tears filled Lu's eyes for the second time in as many minutes. They pooled at the outer edges, then slipped into her hair. She pressed her lips together to keep from sobbing as Caspian's twisted grin disappeared into a worried look.

" What's wrong?" he murmured.

" You really don't know?" she choked, " It's you. Why wouldn't I cry? What part of this situation is okay?" Caspian's eyebrows drew together, and his eyes pleaded with her to stop. " I don't want this. You can't just kidnap me from my home and be all, 'sorry your never going back. And by the way, I'm going to keep you forever and eventually you'll be my wife. I love you!' " she shrieked the last words, her voice broken and tortured. " I don't want this! Some people aren't meant to love, or be loved. And even if I was, it wouldn't be you!" Lu blinked to clear her eyes of the tears that had been blinding her. But once she had, she wished they would fill up again.

Caspian was right above Lu, still pinning her to the ground. His handsome face slowly twisted into the most vicious snarl she had seen so far. His eyes were almost glowing with rage, and they looked black enough to devour all the light in the world. Including her.

" You are nothing but a prisoner here." Lu flinched at the venom in his words, " Your life belongs to me, and whatever I want to do with you, I will do. You are alive because I keep you that way, and you would well to remember that." Her heart clenched, and it seemed to stop beating. The tears stopped and she let out a long, shaky breath, looking up into the burning eyes of the young man she had almost trusted only a few minutes ago.

_Now this is more like it _she thought. That's what she got for believing in a Telmarine.

" I belong to no one," she hissed with deadly calm, "least of all you." Bright green slits disappeared behind pale eyelids. Lucifer Jadis was done playing. He didn't really love her.

She so longer felt any sympathy for him. When she escaped, in _any_ way possible, it wouldn't matter. He wouldn't care. There was nothing to make her hesitate anymore. No looking back.

It would be best for both of them.

Lu lay there with her eyes closed for a few seconds as she came to this conclusion, Caspian's weight still pressing down on her.

" I almost trusted you" she wispered softly. Her heart clenched in regret at the thought. Of all the ridiculous things she had done in her life, this was definitely in the top two or three.

She opened her eyes. Caspian's face was now contorted in horror, the darkness in his eyes replaced with regret.

" I'm so sorry Lucifer, please-" his voice was as close to pleading as it was ever likely to get.

" No." her lips turned upwards in a feint mockery of a smile.

" Neither of you has hurt the other, it's a draw!" called the referee. Lu's painful smirk grew. How wrong he was. Caspian rolled off her and they both stood up, soaking wet. She felt his arms encircle her waist, his lips press against her hair, and didn't bother to repress a shudder of disgust at the touch.

" Lucifer please, I wasn't thinking" His voice seemed on the edge of something. Heartbreak? Not possible, but Lu felt a twinge in her chest nonetheless. She pulled out of his grasp and started toward Derek.

" Lu your alive!" exclaimed the boy. He held his arms out to her, then seemed to realize what he was doing and dropped them with a fearful glance at Caspian. Lu half-smiled and sprinted the distance between them, throwing herself on him anyway. " Lu are you okay?" his concern almost caused her to start crying again.

" No, I'm fine." her voice was muffled by his shoulder, but she felt him relax a bit in response to her reassurance. " are we in any danger?" Derek gave a weak chuckle, catching her meaning.

" Nope, the danger's been stopped by Prunella, and I don't think it'll be able to escape for a while." Lu laughed and turned around in Derek's arms to face the dueling area. Caspian was standing there, a barely concealed murderous expression on his face. Prunella was blocking him from advancing toward her and Derek, chatting and probably batting her eyelashes with the speed of a hummingbird's wings.

" That girl could be very useful." remarked Lu thoughtfully.

" Let's hope she isn't killed in the process." said Derek, " Will you tell me what happened out there?" Lu leaned her head back onto his chest and let out a long sigh.

" The _prince,_" she spat the word like a curse, " just told me what he thinks of me. There was nothing I didn't already know." just a few things she had almost forgotten.

" I'm sorry for everything we've done to you Lu. Really" she turned back to face him and searched his warm brown eyes, so unlike the pitch black ones that had scorched her's earlier. All she found was sincerity.

" You don't need to be. You haven't done anything except show me that not all Telmarines are bad." she smiled solemnly up at him, " Most of you aren't anything like the demon's who took over Narnia, and I'm very glad I've realized that. Sadly, some of you are exactly the same." Lu extracted herself from his arms and took one of his hands in her own. " I'm going to try and escape now, really try. Just in case I succeed before I see you again, goodbye. I hope we meet again someday under different circumstances." Derek's brow creased in concern.

" Lu, promise me you'll be okay. That you will take care of yourself and not get hurt."

" I'm sorry, that's not something I can do." His eyes widened in horror.

" So if you can't escape-"

" Yep." Lu interrupted, " That's how it's gonna be."

" Is it really that bad? Whatever he said to you, he must have been really angry. The prince loves you a lot, I can tell. You've been changing him. Before you, he didn't care about anything or anyone. People used to disappear when he was angry, which was all the time. Please Lu, if you leave, things are going to get really dangerous around here. But I don't want you to be unhappy. Just be careful, okay? He definitely would never hurt you on purpose, but accidents can happen. Sometimes people just get carried away, especially that someone." Horror flashed across Lu's face. She had always assumed Caspian was bad, but hearing it confirmed..

" If that happens, I don't think I'll lose anything I'd lament being rid of." Derek put both hands on her shoulders and looked seriously into her eyes.

" Lu, you don't mean that." She glared defiantly up at him.

" Yes I do, if he kills me-"

" That's not what I'm talking about." Lu stared at him perplexedly for a second, eyebrows furrowed. Then she choked.

" The fuck! He wouldn't.." She thought about the look in his eyes after she told him she couldn't love him. Could he really get that desperate? Uh oh.. "Huh. Need to go do something.. important. Catch you later-maybe, okay?" Derek pulled her into a spine splintering hug, then set her gently back on the ground.

" See you later Lu." With one last glance at the brown headed kind boy Lu sprinted off toward the castle. Wrenching open the door to the infirmary, she threw herself against the wall underneath the window and sat there silently. Hopefully, Caspian hadn't seen her fleeing towards the castle. She needed the extra minutes that would give her.

Sticking her nose up above the window sill, Lu peeked at the figures outside. She hadn't been discovered yet, no one was charging towards the castle. Launching herself away from the wall, she began jogging through the now slightly familiar stone hallways. Though they were probably only familiar because they all looked the same.

Lu knew where she was trying to go, she just had no idea how the get there. After what Derek had said, she needed answers badly, and there was one place she knew they'd be. Just when she was starting to get frantic, a boy about the age she looked collided with her around a corner.

" Watch it." He grumbled impatiently. When he looked ahead and saw her, his eyes grew round. " You! I'm sorry." the boy stuttered. Lu shook her head in frustration.

" My fault." she said. The boy turned and started walking frightenedly away. " Hey wait! Can you help me? I'm trying to find professor Cornelius." he turned back toward her slowly.

" Um. He's two levels down, I can take you there if you would like your highness." Lu raised an eyebrow, catching up to him.

" Thank you your majesty." she smirked. The boy looked taken aback, but he led her down the nearest set of stairs. " what's your name?"

" Glozelle Jr." he answered, " and you're princess Lucifer Jadis" Lu nearly tripped on the second flight of stairs.

" Princess!" she choked, grabbing Glozelle by the shoulder. " I'm a princess when Caspian grows a heart. Never gonna happen."

" But I thought you were engaged-"

" Noooooo. Definitely not. I am a temporary acquisition of his majesty of the prisoner persuasion. I am not nor have I ever consented to be the fiance of any Telmarine, and that will never change. Call me Lu." The boy looked frightened and kept walking.

" You might want to reconsider that pri- Lu." Lu stopped at the bottom of the stairs and narrowed her eyes at the receding back of Glozelle. Something was up here. Caspian cutting her off when she tried to ask how many people he'd killed, him knowing more about the cell keys than the jailer, Derek saying people disappeared.. and who better to tell her about it than an unsuspecting random castle boy?

She half sprinted, half tip toed up behind Glozelle. Grabbing his arm, she opened the door to a conveniently placed supply closet and dragged the boy inside, shutting the door and locking it. Glozelle immediately began stumbling around in the dark, feeling for the door somewhere near the back wall. Humans, figured.

" What are you doing? Let me out!" Lu jumped on him and covered his mouth.

" Sshh!" she hissed, " I'm not going to hurt you. I just need a place where we can talk without being overheard. I need to know some things."

" I'll tell you anything, just don't hurt my sister. She's the only one of them I care about. Don't let Caspian hurt her." Lu sighed and sat down, leaning her back against the door.

" How about that. Why is everyone so afraid of Caspian? What's he done, exactly?"

" You want me to tell you about Caspian? Lu, do you realize what will happen if I do that?" Now they were getting somewhere.

" No, and that's what I'm trying to figure out! What will happen?" She tugged the boy down so he was sitting beside her and leaned toward him in agitation.

" Well, anyone who's found to be conspiring against the kingdom, meaning Caspian, is usually locked up and killed. Sometimes if it isn't anything majorly treasonous, one of the person's family members will disappear. My mother's been missing for a few months now, but we can't look for her and we know that wherever she is, she's not coming back." Glozelle was solemn now, and his inhibitions toward telling her seemed to have gone away.

" What kinds of treason do people commit here that gets them killed? "

" Well the obvious kinds like conspiring to kill the prince and trying to rebel against the kingdom are punished by trial from the counsel of lords. Once convicted, the criminals are usually tortured so the rest of those involved can be found. However, assassins never survive trying to kill Caspian, unless he makes a special effort not to kill them. And afterwards, he handles all the execution's himself."

" What about when relatives disappear? What do you have to do for that?"

" Well that's what has everyone so scared. No one really knows why it happens." The boy twitched subtly in the dark, but Lu noticed it with her elven eyes.

" Are you sure you have no idea..?" she probed.

" Er, well.. if someone speaks up about the troops getting lost in the forest. That's when it usually happens. And if anyone ever said anything about you, they would be the one to disappear. Sometimes they just die. Once my uncle, who was on the council, stood up during a session and said it was completely pointless wasting troops trying to find a girl that was dead anyway. Why should they die for one worthless forest child? The next day he was found dead, stabbed through the body and head thirteen times. An assassin was found and executed by Caspian, but …." Lu stared at the boy in horror, her jaw going slack. What had she gotten herself into?

" Do things like that happen often?" she whispered

" Before you came, yeah. Then, a month couldn't go by without a body winding up mangled and bloody somewhere in the castle. Disappearances were frequent too. Assassination attempts from rebels have decreased as the prince has gotten older. Either he's gotten good at catching them before they can even try, or people just aren't crazy enough to try anymore. You would think that everyone would learn not to bring up you anymore, and some of us have. But most Telmarines are too argumentative to let an issue like that go. Now that your here, everyone's so much safer. Lot's of people are grateful to you for that." Lu gaped.

" Telmarines are grateful to me? For Caspian not killing anyone? But technically, I was the cause of it in the first place anyway!"

" There are those who think of it like that, and you had best watch out for them. Some who lost loved ones to the prince's wrath might see you as a fair exchange. The really deranged ones believe your death will solve everything. So if I were you, I'd watch out." Lu shuddered and stood up.

" Thank you for filling me in, no one will ever know of this discussion. If you ever need any help, come find me, okay?" Glozelle nodded and set off dejectedly back up the stairs. Lu turned around and found herself face to face with the portly, silver haired, bespectacled professor.

" Lucifer m' dear, I wondered when I'd be seeing you again." His eyes twinkled over half moon spectacles. " I wonder if you recall what occurred the last time you conversed with a boy inside of a closet. Best not to have a repeat of that." Lu grimaced, twitching her head towards the side with the Caspian-fist shaped bruise. " Come along now." He led her into a cozy little office that looked as if scrolled regularly snowed from the ceiling. Every surface was covered in parchment of some sort, and on the desk there was a mound probably taller than the professor himself. How he managed to keep them from falling was a mystery. Cornelius sat himself in a cushioned chair and motioned for her to do the same.

" Now, I believe there's something you would like to discuss?" Lu glared at the old man furiously.

" You lied to me." she hissed.

" Oh? About what in particular?" his completely calm demeanor infuriated her further.

" About Caspian! You said he had compassion, and I just found out he's a cold blooded murderer. Where exactly does your compassion fit in to that?"

" I never said he hadn't killed anyone. However, he shows regret for what he does, a desire to change. That's much more than I can say for any of the others. I shudder to think what would have happened had you been caught by any of them. Caspian is stronger than they were. He has the power to feel remorse and the desire to change; to do better, for you." Lu's eyes narrowed disbelievingly.

" for me?"

" Of course. Everything he does is for you. The prince grew up with no parents, and he greatly distrusts all of the nobles. There is no love in his life. The thought of you is the only thing that keeps him going."

" But he's a murderer!"

" You heard this from someone under the age of twenty, yes? Someone older would be able to give you a much better perspective. You see, compared to the other kings, Caspian has much better control of himself. The last one, for example, massacred hundreds of civilians on treasonous charges with evidence that he had made up. The prince does the best he can for his subjects, considering. I believe he will do great things." Lu sneered.

" Great things, like restrain himself from killing hundreds of innocent people? Big wup. I can do that." He didn't need to know how close she had come, though..

" Lu, if you have the blood of a mass murderer and are cursed to obsessively long for something you believe you will never have, restraining yourself from killing hundreds of people is a major accomplishment. But Caspian has the potential to go beyond that, especially now that he has you to encourage him to remain on the strait and narrow."

" If he actually cares about me, why did he just elaborate on how I'm only a prisoner that he can do whatever he wants with?" Lu challenged

" The boy is afraid of your power over him. And I imagine you said something that would antagonize him before this occurred?" His eyes pierced her over the spectacles. Lu shifted in her seat. " Put yourself in his position. If there was something you wanted more than life, would you get frustrated if it told you that you couldn't have it?" Lu imagined a scrumptious, non-spicy sandwich telling her that she had better go find something else to eat. In that mental scenario, things didn't go so well for the sandwich.

" Oh no, I'm the sandwich." Lu muttered. Caspian did make her feel helpless and insignificant, like a sandwich.

" You aren't being fed all that well, are you?" the professor mused. " But Lucifer, the problem is that this isn't just between Caspian and you. Because of his position, your decisions affect a lot more than just you and him. I know you probably want to escape now, but that might not be the best plan."

" You mean, because Caspian's a prince and has the bad habit of stabbing people to death on occasion, if I break his heart some more upstart Telmarines are going to die?" _cause that's a huge loss.._

" As much as I know that would upset you, it's not the only thing we have to worry about. You see Lucifer, recently the council has been toying with the idea of building a bridge across the river in order to allow massive amounts of troops to march across. The issue hasn't been raised since you..arrived, but the idea of finally conquering the forest is appealing to many Telmarines. Thankfully, the only way troops can be sent to battle is if a war has been declared. And the only being who can declare the Telmarine kingdom in a state of war is a king, which we don't exactly have right now." Lu stared at the professor in horror. The only thing between her Narnian's and the entire Telmarine army.. was Caspian.

" So once Caspian becomes king, he can declare war? That makes escaping even more important! I have to help them, they have no idea of the danger they're in. How much time left?" Lu had jumped out of her seat, but the professor waved her back down.

" The prince will be crowned king on his twentieth birthday, this September." Lu jumped out of her seat again.

" But this is June! We don't have any time. I need to get going.."

" Lucifer sit down. The most important part of this is that the prince might not declare war once he takes the thrown. Actually, at this point I'd say that the chances are he won't. You see, with you here, there's no reason for him to want anything from the forest. He is also unlikely to do anything that will upset you as badly as that would. But Lucifer if you run away, he will do anything to get you back, even if that means leading the Telmarine army into the forest and slaughtering every single living thing there. If it comes to that, none of them will survive." Lu had become a statue. Her eyes were blank and staring, her jaw tense in defiance.

If she didn't reconcile herself to a life as Caspian's captive, then the Narnian's would be killed? The situation just got worse and worse, and she couldn't do anything about it. Of course, Lu knew what she was going to do in the end. There was no way she would put the Narnian's in danger, no matter what she had to endure as a consequence. Sacrificing herself to Caspian was the only option.

" What did I do to deserve this?" Lu murmured. " He doesn't even really love me, and I have to stay with him anyway just so he doesn't kill everything that I care about? Aslan, why are you doing this to me? You told me that I should live, just like anyone else, even though I was born an abomination. You can't punish something just for existing, even if it shouldn't. So why?" Was that lifetime with the Pevensie's, so many centuries ago, the only happiness she would ever have?

**WHat do you guys think is gonna happen next? I'll give you a hint. It starts with a P. REview please!**


	21. Disguise

**So, this chapter is probably thanks to Rae's review. By the way, BLT flavored cookies are my favorite. Enjoy!**

Lu's eyes roved around the room, while the professor's stare was fixed on her in concern.

" Lu, staying here isn't a bad option. It's better for everyone." he said in a reasonable tone. Lu froze.

Everyone. It would be better for _everyone_. Every one? So she wasn't someone anymore? Her feelings, life, and well being weren't even part of the equation? Just because she was a monstrosity, hated by her own parents, it was okay for her to suffer for everyone else's happiness? Lu knew she would, and willingly too.

She just didn't like it when other's _assumed_ she would sacrifice herself for them.

" It's not better for me." she hissed angrily. " Trapped here with people I have hated for centuries, at the mercy of their potentially mass murdering ruler that likes to lie that he loves me just for kicks? I don't think so." The professor huffed disapprovingly.

" Lucifer he's not lying. Caspian only said those things to you because he is afraid, because you mean more to him than anything ever will. You have the power to destroy that young man, though I believe I would be correct in saying that you will never use it." Lu's eyes snapped to the old man's face.

" How do you know that?" she squeaked. The professor gazed at her levelly.

" You care about him." he stated. Lu made a noise of protest but he held up his hand. " If you do not care for that young man, why are there no scars on his back? Why did you not kill him in the duel? You could have, he gave you the chance. Yet he lives."

" If I ever cared, it was for an illusion." she hissed, " the illusion of someone as lost and alone as I feel! Someone reaching out for the one thing they can't have because it's the only thing they want, the only thing they need. Someone who cares about me as a person; not as a leader, or a girl, and not because of some curse. But that person does not exist." Lu stood up and began to pace the room. " And now I'm stuck here with a murdering monster because I didn't kill him. I can't do this anymore!" in her anger, Lu knocked a book off of a shelf and it fell to the floor. She bent to retrieve it and gasped. Falling to her knees before the book, she layed a hand on it and traced the figures on the open page with a finger. Maybe there was a way she could have a say in her own future..

" The Kings and Queens of old. You knew them Lucifer, I can't imagine.. Those times were so different. You must miss them." The professor sighed longingly. Lu was still mesmerized by the picture of the Pevensies. There was her family, immortal in parchment and forever out of her reach. Or were they? She tore her gaze away and looked at the professor.

" The room where everything having to do with the curse is kept. Where is it?" she maintained a level tone, but not without effort. Inside, Lu was nearly bursting with emotion. Which, exactly, she could not tell.

" Technically no one is allowed to know of it's existence, but under the circumstances, I'd say an exception is called for. There is a hall off the library, I'll take you there." The squat man rose and lead her to a different door than the one she had entered through. It lead to a short corridor that opened to a library large enough to rival that of Cair Paravel. Lu floated to the center of the room and stood in a beam of light from one of the huge windows. Surveying the masses of books lining the walls and shelves, she heaved a sigh. The whole thing reminded her of Edmund, who used to spend entire days in the library in the old castle. Sometimes she would stay with him, and they would both read late into the night until they fell asleep on each other. None of the other Pevensies had shared their complete obsession with books.

The professor led her to an old door in the corner of the library, obscured by a bookshelf. Behind it was a dark, torch lit corridor that had, "You aren't supposed to be here" written all over it. Metaphorically. At the end of the hall was an even more forbidding looking door. The professor opened it, handing her a torch he had grabbed off the wall.

" I'll see you later Lucifer, this is something you should do on your own." Lu almost turned around right there, but she gritted her teeth. She would get what she came for, no matter what.

Lu stepped inside and her spine immediately started to tingle. The door shut behind her with a terrifying thump. Through the darkness, she could make out torches lining the walls. Lighting them all, Lu surveyed the room.

She stifled a scream. There, on the back wall, was a picture of _her_. She was sitting a grassy hill, the two hunting knives in her lap. She was wearing the same armor as the day Cair Paravel fell, her expression solemn. Grief was obvious in her eyes, as well as the tiniest hint of accusation. Lu wondered which of the Telmarine men she had seen that day painted it.

The walls were lined with cabinets covered in scrolls, some of which were hanging open so she could see the writing on them. The penmanship started out elegant, but by the end of the paper, it transformed into something spidery and desperate. The font of madness. Shivers continued to coarse up and down Lu's spine. Then she saw something that made her want to fall down and die.

It was a sepulcher, and even without reading the inscription, she knew who was inside. The man that had destroyed her life, and the lives of countless others, had finally lured her back to him.

Caspian the Conqueror.

Lu felt her back hit the wall behind her. She slid to the floor and drew her legs up, wrapping her arms around them.

The place was a monstrosity, just like the man that rested there. It existed only because of a curse something saw fit to place on the Telmarine ruling line. Lu felt about to be sick, just as the picture stared at her accusatorily, like this was her fault.

And it was, in part. Caspian himself did all the killing, but later Lu had realized something. She might have been able to prevent it, and this, if only she had realized what he wanted. She could have stopped the whole thing from happening..somehow. Her happiness wouldn't have mattered, it was forfeit either way. It wasn't even part of the equation.

Lu stood up, glaring at the tomb in the middle of the room.

" You couldn't have just left me alone, could you? Even after you're gone, still following me around with those damn eyes! His eyes." she was trembling now. " Can't you just let me live?" Lu walked over to the huge granite thing and pushed the top slab with all her might. It slid back painfully slowly.

Of her great rival, nothing remained but bones. Lu tried to avoid looking at the gaunt death-grin as she searched for the reason for her visit to this dark place. And there, just where she knew it would be, was queen Susan's horn. The precious artifact was clutched in a skeletal hand, and in the other was her missing knife. Lu could still feel his warm grip on her wrist as he pried it away from her.

Lu grabbed away her things and heaved the slab back into place. Out of curiosity, she took one of the scrolls as well. Shoving the items into her boots, she cast one last glance at the picture and left the room. Not five steps out the door, Lu slammed into something hard and familiar.

" So that's where you've been." Caspian put his arms around her back, " I'm sorry you had to see that, it doesn't feel right in there. I've wanted to move the picture out, but I was afraid _he_ would come after it." Lu shivered at the thought, it was a definite possibility. " Lucifer look at me." she deliberately kept her eyes on the ground. The prince sighed. " I'm so sorry about what I said. It isn't true." Lu finally looked up, and imagined her expression looked exactly as it had in the picture. Because that's how she felt.

" So you've decided to release me and let me make my own choices?" _and help the Narnians destroy you_, she added silently.

" No." The exotic voice was full of regret that Lu ignored.

" Then it is true, but I already knew that. I was just kidding myself before." _kidding myself by thinking that you actually, truly care about me and by almost trusting you. _" Besides, it's just a curse, isn't it? None of it's real!" Caspian's arms constricted around her.

" Don't ever think that." He growled, " Lucifer if the curse wasn't there, I would be just like Caspian the Conqueror. Looking for something, but not knowing what it was. I would still feel the same way once I found you." Hearing the first King's name aloud made Lu shudder.

" How did you find me here?"

" I knew you would end up here eventually, it was only a matter of time."

" Why?"

" Because of your curiosity." Caspian stared at the door for a while, and finally looked back at her, " I know what he did to you. Everything."

" He was a monster." Lu whispered

" Maybe, but I know everything he felt too." The prince swept her off her feet, and before she could protest, she found herself sitting in his lap as he leaned against the wall of the passage. The dim corridor seemed much safer now than it had the first time she walked through it, and she hated to think that was because of Caspian's presence. " He never wanted to hurt you. If you had asked him to stop the attack, he would have froze his army in it's tracks." Lu was dumbstruck. She knew it!

" But I did ask him." Caspian shook his head.

" but it would have had to have been after that. After you jumped off the boat. You really worried him with that. And then he was afraid you would be killed in the fighting. He almost called off the attack himself so you wouldn't get hurt." Lu started trembling again. She wrenched herself away from him and half stumbled-half sprinted out the door. Making her way through the library, she threw herself out the main door and started running down the hallways.

Lu could feel the horn of Queen Susan inside her boot. As it pushed against her leg with the rhythmic moments of her sprinting, she felt an idea beginning to form inside her devious little mind. Now that she had the ability to summon the Pevensies back to Narnia, she and the Narnians might have a chance against the Telmarines. If the invaders wanted a war, why not give them one? The Narnian's had amassed enough numbers to give a fair reckoning of themselves, and with the help of the Kings and Queens of old, they just might pull it off. The thought of a free Narnia gave Lu strength she hadn't felt in centuries.

Now all she had to do was escape, blow the horn, and find the Pevensies wherever they ended up. Sadly, escape seemed completely impossible and she was fresh out of harebrained schemes.

She stumbled to a halt and pressed her back against the wall, eyes glazed over in hopelessness. There was no way she would ever escape Caspian. He had guards that could search every inch of the castle within minutes. And his desperation to find her would rival her need to escape.

Her eyes followed a figure unseeingly as it strode toward her steadily. Not until it passed her did Lu even notice it's presence. When her eyes did focus, she gasped. A florescent, energy efficient light bulb appeared metaphorically over Lu's head.

Duh, she could disguise herself as a servant in the kitchen! Then she could sneak out to the city, and escape from there. Lu stalked over to a supply closet and opened it. Peering inside for a second, she slammed the door so hard the servant just down the hall jumped.

" You there!" she beckoned him over. His gaze darted apprehensively to her hair. " I require assistance." Lu tried to act like a noble, even raising her nose a fraction.

" What can I do for you your majesty?" she almost choked again at the title, but held it together with the thought of what she was about to do..

" There's a man trapped in this closet." she said aristocratically. The servant didn't look as shocked as she had expected. " We must help him!" He reached for the door and pulled it open. Once he was standing in front of the open empty closet, Lu leaped on his back and they both tumbled through the door. The servant was knocked unconscious by the stone floor.

Lu proceeded to strip him and steal his clothes, even finding a black cloth in the closet to wrap around her head. She figured her chances of escape were better if she hid her hair and pretended to be a boy. By the time she was finished tying the man's arms, he woke up.

" You said there was a man trapped in here!" He said exasperatedly, glaring at her in the dark. Lu smirked.

" There is bro. There is." and with that, she shoved a rag in his mouth and left him lying in the closet.

Smearing her face with dirt, she rubbed it around her jaw to look like beard-stubble. Then Lu stumbled down infinite staircases, following her nose to the kitchen.

Lu cracked open the doors to the kitchen and crept inside. The huge room was full of bustling people chopping things, carrying dishes, cooking, and generally doing things that Lu wished she could be doing. At cair Paravel, Lu used to spend hours in the kitchen helping the chefs cook, and it was something she missed terribly. Cooking was creating something amazing from things that weren't so amazing, like broccoli. Good in soup, gagworthy alone.

Standing there in front of the door with nothing to do, she started attracting the glances of some of those around her. Lu started to feel desperate. It was only a matter of time before they kicked her out.

Suddenly something caught her eye from across the room. A girl was stumbling beneath a tray laden with bowls of soup. Someone bumped her and the tray began to slip. In a second, Lu was standing next to the girl, steadying the tray. The girl looked frantic, like she had just missed a step on the stairs.

" Thank you so much!" she gasped after locating her savior, " I thought I was dead!" Lu frowned.

" It's just soup." she said, remembering to keep her voice gruff and low.

" You must be new here. Madame Pomona's the head chef, and if you drop even a crumb, she'll know. You'll be scrubbing dishes in boiling water for a week! You just saved my ass!" Lu smiled.

" No problem, where are you taking this?"

" Out those doors over there." she nodded to a pair of double doors that Lu recognized as the ones she had run through while being chased by Caspian for the first time. Lu helped the girl carry the platter out to the dining hall and set it safely in an empty place on the long tables already mostly covered in food.

" Who eats here?" Lu asked.

" Anyone who lives in the castle. Lords, ladies, high ranking army people. Theres a high table over there for anyone really important." The girl pointed to a raised table along one side of the room. In the middle was a throne-like chair that Lu could guess the ownership of.

" What's your name?" she asked. The girl blushed.

" Pam." she squeaked slightly, " and yours?" Lu froze, her brain working frantically. Why did Telmarine names have to be so weird?

" Er- Damian. M' name's Damian." She gave a tiny sigh of relief.

" That's a cool name. Want to help me get the rest of the stuff out here Damian?"

" Sure." Together the got all the food onto the tables without spilling anything at all.

" Do you live in the city or the servant quarters?" inquired Pam. Lu almost choked. This couldn't possibly be that easy.

" I live in the city." she answered triumphantly. Pam smiled.

" Me too." the girl exclaimed, blushing, " When our shifts are up, do you want to walk together?" Lu smiled.

" Sure, that'd be nice."

Lu spent the rest of the day with Pam. The girl seamed very sweet, if prone to blushing excessively. Lu wondered why that was, it was more than a little strange. Maybe she had a disorder? When dinner was over, they cleared the plates with the other servants. Then it was time to go. She followed Pam through the servant's doors, a maze of courtyards, and out the main gate.

Just as Lu stepped off the drawbridge, a bell rang throughout the castle. The same one as the last time she had tried to escape. The thunderous footsteps of the troops could be heard from all the way outside the castle. The gate started to close, trapping many of the servants inside. People started coming out of shops along the road nearby to see what all the commotion was about. Pam looked alarmed.

" I wonder what that could be?" Lu felt the blood rush from her face.

" Um, it doesn't sound good. We should hurry up." Pam frowned, turning around.

" But I want to know what-" Lu grabbed her arm and the girl fell silent.

" Please, it's really not a good idea." Pam's eyes narrowed suspiciously at her.

" What are you hiding." Lu cursed. Damn women and their intuition!

" Er- nothing. Why would you think-"

" Your beard's smearing." Damn. Lu turned to run, but Pam grabbed her arm this time. " Wait! I didn't say I would rat you out, whoever you are, but please tell me what's going on?" Lu sighed. If she didn't, the girl could call any of the guards over. If she did, then Pam might let her go. It would be much easier to escape if no one knew where she was just yet.

" Okay, come with me." Lu lead the girl to a deserted alley and scanned the area for witnesses. Then she turned to Pam, who looked both frightened and curious. Rubbing the dirt off her chin, she pulled off the itchy head cloth and sighed in relief as her hair tumbled around her shoulders once again.

" Oh my lord you're-" Lu put a finger to Pam's lips.

" Shhh! Not so loud."

" Your Lucifer Jadis." whispered the girl. Lu sighed.

" You know, being treated like a freak all the time does get old after a while. Most people don't seem to realize that." The girl blushed again.

" Sorry." Lu frowned.

" Why do you blush so much?" the girl blushed even harder.

" You make a cute boy." She squeaked. Lu rolled her eyes.

" Soo.. are you going to run screaming to the guards that you know where I am or what? The suspense is killing me." Lu asked bluntly.

" That depends, why are you trying to leave the castle? Were those bells for you?" Lu sighed and looked solemnly at the girl.

" I'm leaving because I'm tired of having everything in my life decided for me. Yes, the bells are for me. Caspian doesn't exactly want me to escape, so he probably has the guards strip-searching the castle at this point." Pam looked sympathetic, placing a hand on Lu's shoulder.

" That sounds pretty bad. I won't rat you out, don't worry." Lu punched the air triumphantly.

" Okay, but if the prince ever finds out you helped me- I don't even want to think about it." Pam cringed.

" You're engaged, right? Wouldn't you want to stay with him?" Lu facepalmed and glared at Pam through a crack between her fingers.

" If 'engaged' means I'm his prisoner and he's going to make me marry him someday even though I'd rather pour acid in my brain, then yeah, we're totally engaged. I want him like I want the plague." To emphasize her point, Lu began trying to gnaw off the big blue diamond stuck on her finger. Pam looked shocked.

" Are you sure? He's kind of... hot." Lu choked.

" That doesn't even rank compared to freedom of choice. Your argument is invalid. Besides, I'm not into the whole, 'If anyone else even looks at you I'll slaughter them and their family' thing. Especially because he means it. He's too dangerous." Pam didn't look surprised. Apparently knowledge of the Caspians' behavior issues wasn't exactly top secret.

" Hmm." she frowned thoughtfully, " Yeah, I guess you wouldn't want someone like that around the kids, huh?" The girl commented innocently. Lu nodded obliviously.

" Yeah, and I-" she trailed off as the girls words sunk in.

Kids? With Caspian?

Lu's eyes bulged and she grabbed fistfuls of her hair, attempting to pull it out while hopping up and down. Pam backed up, alarmed.

" Kids!" she screeched, " With him!" Lu's mouth dropped open, silently uttering streams of curses.

Ew

Why would she knowingly bring more vicious monsters into the world? What if they became cold blooded killers like their father? Or worse, what if they were brats like her?

If having Caspian's children was part of the 'staying with him to save the Narnians' plan, they were going to war with the Telmarines. End of discussion.

Pam held up her hands defensively.

" I was just thinking out loud." Lu's glare silenced her, but after a while she calmed down.

" Actually, I'm glad you brought it up. I never would have thought of it otherwise. Now I know never to come back." Pam gave her a sympathetic look.

" I bet he'll miss you, but you should do what makes you happy." Lu sighed. Was her hatred of the prince really enough to make her Narnians go to war?

When phrased like that, the answer was obvious. Lu would never put her own happiness above the safety of the Narnians. All notions of calling the Pevensies back to Narnia vanished. The Telmarine army was too great, and there weren't enough Narnians. She should never have left Caspian.

" Pam, I think I need to go back." she murmured to the girl, who frowned.

" But I thought you hated Caspian, why don't you want to escape?"

" Because if I don't stay with him, a lot of people that I love will die. It doesn't matter what I think if him, or what he thinks of me. The important thing is that they stay safe. I was just kidding myself with this crazyness." Lu felt as if a huge weight had settled back on her shoulders, and she already longed for the few hours of freedom believing victory over the Telmarines was possible had given her. The nudge of Susan's horn in her boot became a painfull jab, reminding her of the possibility of freedom. " I need to go back."

" Lu, I'm not sure that's a good-" Lu put a hand over the girls mouth as movement in her peripheral vision caught her attention. Two dark figures appeared a few yards behind Pam in the alleyway. Reaching out, she grabbed Pam's hand and pulled her toward another street. The girl noticed her tension and went along with it.

" What's wrong?" she asked in a barely audible whisper.

" Two people in the alley behind you, I don't know, they seemed kinda.." They rounded a corner only to come face to face with two men in dark clothes. Lu tugged Pam down a new street before they got within reaching distance of the strangers. Too late, she realized she had lead them down a dead end.

" Lu, what are we going to-" Lu spun around and stood in front of Pam, just as the four men entered the alley, trapping them. She glared them down defiantly as they moved closer. The men were only feet from the girls when they stopped. The one in front flashed a cheeky gap-toothed grin.

" Now," his voice was rough and sent tingles of fear down Lu's spine. " How's about you ladies come with us real quiet, so's we don't have to get nasty." She rolled her eyes at his obvious grammar proficiency.

" Yeah, I don't think we will." Lu replied as impudently as she could manage. The man smiled wider, revealing even more missing teeth.

" Well Lu-" the man began.

" What! How come everyone gets to know who I am? Who sent you? If it's Caspian, you might as well just kill me now." she would rather die than actually be taken back to the castle. The thought of Caspian's rage at her escape made Lu cringe. It would be best if she went back of her own free will. That, at least, would screw with his mind.

" No sweets. Your prince ain't gonna be rescuin' you today." Real fear settled in Lu's stomach. This wasn't good.

So of course, she did the obvious thing. Leaping toward the man in front, she kneed him in the groin as hard as she possibly could. With elven strength and knobby knees, Lu could pretty much guarantee toothy wasn't going to by having any kids. Ever.

The man roared in high pitched agony. She would have stopped to roll on the ground and laugh off various body parts, but the other men started forward. Lu bent and slipped the hunting knives from her boots.

It felt good to have both back together again. Lu lashed out at the men, inflicting various mortal chest wounds and even managing to get one's hand. Pam was making strange noises behind her. Once all the men had been taken care of, Lu turned to the girl, who was frantically gesturing with both hands at generally... everything.

" What is it?" hissed Lu exasperatedly, looking around.

Crap, that was just unfair. Ropes were dangling off the roofs of the surrounding buildings, and dozens of men were climbing down them stealthily.

" Pam." sighed Lu, " I'm really sorry you had to get caught up in- well I still have no idea what the hell these guys think they're doing. But it's been nice knowing you." Lu walked over to the girl, and immediately found her arm in Pam's surprisingly vice like grip.

" Maybe we can negotiate?" she squeaked. Lu chuckled.

" Hah, never been much good at negotiating. If I can, I'll get you out of here." The men were surrounding them. Someone stepped out from their ranks. His well kept appearance contrasted starkly with toothy, who was still groaning on the ground.

" Lucifer Jadis, you are under arrest."

" Uh, I can see that. Now if you'll excuse her, she was just leaving-" Lu shrugged Pam away, but the girl didn't let go of her arm, nor did the men part to allow her to leave.

" No, we're taking her too."

" What! But you don't even know who she is, let alone have a warrant for her arrest." The man, obviously one of those, "By the Book" types, glared at her.

" That is not you concern." Lu glared right back.

" Like hell it isn't! Why don't you just admit that this is an illegal operation. I will not be kidnapped under false pretenses just to spare you your dignity Mr. High and Mighty." The man looked taken aback.

" Wha- I don't-"

" It's simple. Repeat after me, 'I lied and this is not an arrest, it is an illegal kidnapping, and I am a no good honor less mercenary.' There! Easy as can be. Now say it and I'll consider forgiving you." The man was flushed red. Lu and Pam were surrounded by men at this point, brandishing weapons and glaring at Lu to try and scare her into shutting up. Needless to say, it wasn't working out.

" This is completely unprecedented-"

" Actually it's rather common. It's called De-ni-al" Lu sing songed the last word. Some of the men in the back, the ones not trying to intimidate the girls, chuckled at their flustered leader. Obviously, he was used to his victims being too scared to do anything other than what he said.

" You lot, seize them!" Lu had already hidden the knives in her boots and offered no resistance except struggling, which was just for show anyway. Pam wore a hard expression, and she even tried to bite the fingers of one of their captors. Lu gave her an encouraging smile. The girl had spirit.

Suddenly, a strange smelling cloth was pressed up against her face. She only had time for a second of panic before the world went black.

**Soo, my hint. I thought I was being obvious, it was supposed to be Pevensies! but I miscalculated. Technically, all of you were right. It was a sucky hint though, my bad. Please please please review. I need minions! Who wants to be my minion?**


	22. What Are You?

**Yeah so, it's been a while. But It's almost summer, so I'll finally have time to write regularly again. yay. Also, the blt cookie was fricking awesome. I dont deserve it. Bad author *Slap*  
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Lu slowly became conscious of a dull throbbing in her skull, like her heart was stuck inside of it, and every beat caused it to swell and threaten to bust out. Was this some strange metaphor for the way she had been letting her heart interfere with her decisions in the last few days? That was an unpleasant thought.

This was disproved when she awoke further, and the ache spread to the rest of her body. Stiff and immobile, she imagined that this was what a corpse would feel like at first if it ever tried to come back to life. Her body felt dead somehow, every nerve and sense was muted.

A finger twitched. The massive amount of mental and physical energy necessary for that one tiny movement filled Lu's mind with terror. What had happened to her? Frustration took over as she tried to move a leg. The thing felt like a slug attached to her hip, sliding slowly across the ground.

Someone's ass was getting beaten for this. Suddenly she could twitch all her fingers, and move her lag at the same time. Lu felt like crying in relief, but her facial muscles seemed to be affected as well. Slowly but surely, she reclaimed her whole body. By the time she could sit up, what felt like an hour had gone by. Inching herself over until she came in contact with a wall, she leaned on it and raised a hand in front of her face.

Lu almost screamed when she realized what was missing. Her sight. It's loss hadn't even occurred to her, like it had never existed in the first place.

Trying to get her hyperventilation under control, Lu rubbed her eyes frantically. Eventually, she could see her surroundings as one big grayish blur. Soon sharper details became visible, like the outline of individual stones in the walls and a chair in the corner of the room.

She could make out two empty doorways on each side of the room, but he middle was bisected by a row of steal poles, like bars in a jail. Foreboding pricked at her still extremely doped up mind. Where was she? Crawling on her hands and knees to the doorway on her side of the bars was a painfully odd experience. Every time part of her body hit the stone floor it tingled numbly, as if her body was suddenly filled with funny bone's injected with Novocain.

Reaching the exit, she continued her way down a hall until she came to another door less doorway. The inside looked exactly the same as the room she had just left. Her dulled mind twinged in annoyance, the disembodied throbbing continued.

Suddenly a figure moved into the empty doorway across the bars. Lu narrowed her eyes at is as it made it's way to the center of the room.

It's long brown hair and glasses seemed eerily familiar.

" LU!" the thing shrieked, and Lu made some really intelligent sounding noise of protest, like " guuhamu" or something like that. The thing was not deterred, and continued to utter a stream of sounds that made no sense whatsoever.

"Huuughambed Lu mesfalegebootuh. MUUH, Lu henumed." The thing kept repeating something, and it too sounded familiar. " huuuumed loom. And Lu, they've had you somewhere back there and I haven't gotten to see you cause you haven't been awake until now. I was so worried! I thought you had DIED!" somehow, the thing's noises turned into intelligible speak. Lu turned her head, wondering how it knew so much about her.

" Who are you?" she slurred. The girl stared at her in shock.

" I'm Pam, are you okay Lu? How do you feel?" Lu sat back on her haunches, which now had complete feeling. Suddenly, a spark lit inside the drugged befuddlement of her brain.

" Pam?" Relief flooded the girl's features.

" You remember!" she exclaimed. And she was right, Lu did remember. Sparks were suddenly lighting the darkened spaces in her brain, and everything that had lead up to her drugged slumber was illuminated. But what in narnia could have made her feel so... slug like?

" Pam, how long have we been trapt here." The girl sat back on the ground, looking down sheepishly.

" Er.. you've been out the whole time? Umm.. since the last day I went to work in the palace.. it's been about two months." Lu froze and became a pair of wide eyes staring at the girl.

Two months? What. The. Absolute. Fuck.

" ASLAN WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS!" Lu screeched at the ceiling. " WHATEVER YOU THINK YOU'RE ACCOMPLISHING BY DESTROYING THE ONLY HOPE NARNIA HAS, IT'S NOT FUCKING WORTH IT, DO YOU HEAR ME?" red in the face, Lu fell back so she was laying on the chilly stone floor. Pam stared at her until footsteps sounded from the hallway on Pam's side of the bars. Someone stepped out of the doorway.

" What's all the racket about- your awake?" a man completely unfamiliar to Lu narrowed his eyes at her. " Well isn't this perfect timing." he said in an ominous tone. " You're about to have a visitor." Lu glared back at the man. As he turned and left.

" Pam, have I mentioned how sorry I am that you were dragged into this? Even though I still don't know what "this" is. We're going to get out, I swear. Now that I'm awake, no more slacking off. I got this." Lu had sat up to watch the intruder, and now she was gazing kindly the tall, bespectacled girl.

" I believe you Lu. I'm worried about what will happen if we do escape though. These guys are kinda careless. I've heard some things.. about what's going on in, you know, the kingdom." As soon as Lu understood what she was getting at, she became a pair of wide, staring eyes again.

She hadn't thought about Caspian. Two months of believing she had escaped back to the forest? That would not be good. But it would be even worse if he knew she had been kidnapped..

" He knows" Pam said, as if reading her thoughts. Lu began trying to tug out her hair while staring blankly at the floor. Unconsciously she drew her legs up against her chest. Pam gazed at her knowingly.

How many deaths had her stupid escape attempt caused? Two month's of trying to find her, Lu could imagine the suspicion and rage that would cause. What if he found her with.. whoever these people were? What would happen to them? What would happen to her?

As she was lost in these disconcerting thoughts, another entered her mind. The amount of pain Pam must have put up with while she was busy being lazy..or drugged.

" Pam, how's it been here without me? Who do you miss?" Lu turned troubled green eyes on the girl, trying to quell her worries and focus on comforting the girl.

" Well, getting away from my parents has sort of been a blessing. I mean, we don't get on all that well. They always tell me I should be more like my older sister. But.." Pam trailed off, her glazed eyes showing that she was lost in recollection, " My little brother, I really miss him. His birthday was three days ago." The girl's eyes were starting to fill up. Lu wished she could hug her or something.

" Don't worry, you'll see him again." she murmured consolingly.

" Lucifer!" Suddenly a very familiar accented voice echoed from the hallway. It's tone was cynical, but there was a faint trace of hope hidden beneath the frustration. Lu froze for the third time. Warmth spread through her chest, though she hadn't noticed it was cold. At the same time, fear made her hands tremble. How was it possible to feel safer, and more fearfull at the same time?

" Was that.." Pam hissed. Lu gave a microscopic nod and the girl's eyes widened as well. She motioned for Lu to go.

Lu mechanically pushed herself to her feet. As she left the room and entered the hallway, she had the strangest sensation. Her legs itched to race to the other barred room, but at the same time they fought her with every step. She mediated by continuing at a normal pace, though neither her legs nor her were happy about it.

Reaching the other doorway, Lu stopped and peaked her head around the corner.

There he was, standing on the other side just a few feet from the bars, arms folded across his broad chest. He was tall as ever, silky dark hair, olive skin, and black eyes still the same. Though somehow he seemed bigger, or maybe she had shrunk.

His pitch black eyes zeroed in on her and widened a fraction in relief, though his expression remained cold and impassive. For some obcene reason, the urge to fling herself at the bars came over her, but Lu repressed it with disgust. She walked slowely to the middle of her half of the room.

Lu found his cold expression unnerving. He had never shielded his emotions from her before. This cold, impassive side of him was almost as terrifying as his fury, and proved that he could be far more dangerous than she had ever realized. If he had the ability to hide his emotion's like that, faking them was only one step away. How much of what he had shown her before was real?

The absence of caring in his eyes made the warmth that had found it's was into Lu's chest vanish, leaving her cold and weak once again. She felt herself respond by becoming cold and impassive on the outside as well.

" Are you alright?" the exotic voice was void of kindness, or any other emotion. Lu smiled coldly, though her facial muscles protested the movement.

" As alright as any filthy forest girl can expect to be." his eyes flashed at her.

" Where have you been?"

" Here, or so I'm told." His cold expression was starting to hurt. She began to wish for something, anything, any trace of emotion. Even anger. She pleaded silently for him to stop, because he was just proving that he didn't care about her at all. And for some reason, that idea disturbed Lu more than she could admit.

But she did understand, sort of. She had hurt him.

" You tried to escape again." Lu could feel her facade cracking, which had never happened before. She was the queen of cold, impassive expressions.

" Yes I did, and why shouldn't I have? All I am to you is a prisoner, and that's what prisoners do. They try to escape." Lu could almost feel her chin start to wobble. How could he make her feel like this just by looking at her without the usual caring? What was wrong with her? Maybe it was those damn drugs she'd been hopped up on for the last two months..

And then, because she suddenly felt genuinely sorry for all the pain she had caused him if he did care about her, she stepped up the the bars and grabbed onto them. Her cold expression shattered as she let her eyes show everything: worry, hurt, guilt, especially worry.

" Caspian I'm sorry." she choked. The prince's mask was replaced by shock and disbelief. " I'm so sorry, but if I really wasn't just a prisoner, you wouldn't..." _you wouldn't be so cold. _" I just wanted to live. Can't you understand that? I want my life to be mine, is that so much to ask?" Caspian uncrossed his arms and strode toward her. Lu flinched, but remained stoically where she was as he gently covered her hands with his own.

" I understand." he murmured, tracing circles over her skin with his thumbs, " but I _need _you, you'll never understand how much. Please Lucifer." The prince rested his forehead on the bars, his pitch black eyes were boring holes in her's. Lu uttered a tiny gasp. In his eyes, she could see what professor Cornelius had meant. His eyes _were_ Caspian the Conquerors, and yet they weren't. There was hate, obsession, rage, lust, and murder in a glaze over the shocking black irises. But through that shown a tiny ray of compassion, hope, and caring. Evidence of a tiny flame inside him, a spark of hope that he had a chance of really feeling love, of not becoming the insane monstrosity that Caspian the Conqueror had been.

Lu had seen the flame before, but she had been too caught up in her misery to recognize it for what it was. Sure, she had admired it at times, but it's significance never struck her. The other Caspian's? They hadn't had the spark. The spark was uniquely him.

But it had withered since the last time Lu had seen him. What once was a definite ray of light had shrunk to a candle at midnight, without even the stars and moon to help it. Had her leaving really had that much of an effect? What had he done in the time she had been unconscious? How many innocent people had been an outlet for his rage?

Even in it's weak state, Lu couldn't help but look at the flame and know that it was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen. Whatever it took, she would not let it be extinguished as it almost had been.

" Please what?" she breathed, still entranced by the flame's light shining through his eyes.

" Forgive me." Lu didn't think he was still talking about what he had said in the arena. Caspian must have found out about her conversation with Cornelius. He knew that she was aware of his murderous habits, but from his voice, Lu could tell that he didn't really expect her to forgive the fact that he had taken innocent lives. But all she had to do was look at the flame to know that she would.

" Caspian," she wished she was tall enough to touch her forhead to his, but that might have been too close anyway. Just because she didn't hate him anymore, didn't mean she wanted from him what he wanted from her. " I forgive you." Lu said simply. She was rewarded as the flame burned a little brighter in his eyes. Arms like steel snaked through the bars and wrapped around her, pulling her against his chest. The cold metal between them was a constant reminder of the situation.

Lu didn't even try to pull away. She rested her head against him and closed her eyes.

" I can hear your heartbeat." she muttered. His chuckle vibrated through her skull, which was actually a very pleasant sensation. " It's so loud! I like it." Lu pressed her head harder against his chest, taking her arms and wrapping them around his back. She couldn't see his expression, but bet it was more than a little shocked. Caspian tightened his arms around her and leaned over to rest his chin on the top of her head.

" Are you drugged?" he whispered. Lu opened her eyes, but did not move.

" How could you tell?" she answered. " You know what? I haven't got a heartbeat."

" Is that so?" his voice was a vibration in head.

" Yep, it probably has something to do with the elf-ice witch thing. My mother doesn't have a heart. I don't think I do either." Lu said bluntly. Caspian touched his lips to the top of her hair and tingles traveled all the way down her skull. She was obviously still on drugs.

" You have a heart Lucifer. Maybe you haven't found it yet." Lu's eyes, which had drifted shut again, snapped open. What an interesting thought.. " I'm going to get you out of here." he murmured, " You and that poor servant girl."

" Her name's Pam," offered Lu, just as footsteps sounded in the hallway. Someone entered the room, but Lu couldn't see the door behind her.

" You must be Pam." Caspian said. Lu took her head reluctantly off the prince's chest and turned around, still pressed to him and the bars as his arm's hadn't loosened their hold an inch.

" And you're Prince Caspian, majesty." Lu stifled a smirk as Pam blushed and gave a wobbly sort of curtsy.

" Pam how did you get across the bars?" wondered Lu. The girl's blush had spread from her cheeks to the rest of her face, which was almost scarlet.

" They were raised, and I thought I would come find you to see if I could help with any sort of escape plan you may have come up with." stammered the girl.

" Hmm. Escape plan. Got anything Caspian?" It felt weird to adress him like a normal person, like a friend or something. Just. Plain. Weird.

Suddenly more footsteps echoed around the room from the hallway. Two men entered the spacious room. One was gigantic and with a shiny bald crown, and the other seemed oddly familiar to Lu, though she couldn't quite figure out why. As soon as the men faced them, Caspian dropped his arms from around Lu.

" Run!" he hissed in her ear, but her gaze was fixed on Pam, who seemed to have frozen in fear. The girl would be caught if Lu left. Without pausing to think, she sprang at the smaller and more familiar of the two men, landing a roundhouse kick to his chest before he could even twitch his arms to shield himself.

" Run Pam!" she screamed at the girl to brake her out of her trance of terror. Pam blinked and sprinted out the door and down the hall. Lu tried to follow her, but the huge bald man grabbed her and thew her against the wall, where she slid to the floor limply.

" Lucifer get up" commanded the prince. There was a frantic note in his voice, and it scared Lu more than any number of muscled bald men ever would. She groaned and rolled over, satisfied that her diversion had allowed Pam to escape. The familiar looking man was on his knees, gasping for breath and clutching his chest. The bald one was approaching her, and Lu was painfully dragged into a psuedo standing position by one of her arms. The shorter man stood up and faced Caspian.

" That's an insolent one you have there majesty, can't imagine why you want her back so badly." he remarked croakily.

" What do you want, Lord Donnon?" Caspian adressed the man in a voice of barely restrained rage. Lu's eyes widened. That's who he was.. She'd thought the smarmy expression had seemed familiar.

" You are going to step down and renounce your crown, or the girl will die." The man said in the satisfied tone of someone who believed they held all the cards. Lu's eyes were carefully trained on Caspian as she hung limply by her arm. His fists were clenched and the knuckles were white as bone. His lips were fixed in a snarl and the tiny flame was gone from his eyes, replaced by a burning darkness that should have only existed in nightmares. The sight made her skin crawl, and she couldn't help but shudder and wish she could be safe somewhere far, far away from him. But she knew that would never happen, he would find her anywhere. At least his fury wasn't directed at her. Small comfort. She could feel it radiating off of him, like some sort of poison, like death. All her thought's of the flame were forgotten. For now, she just wanted to be away from that tall, dark column of hatred.

" If you hurt her," Caspian snarled, " no matter what, I swear on my father's grave you will pay." Lu was turning pale in fear of both what was going to happen at the hands of the bald man, and the young man on the other side of the bars.

" Caspian, don't give in to them, no matter wha-" The bald man slapped her across the face so hard she wrenched her neck. Lu tasted blood in her mouth as she glanced fearfully at Caspian. His hands were on the bars now, and she couldn't help but imagine them around her neck the same way. Why was she suddenly so afraid of him?

The bald man dropped Lu on the ground and proceeded to kick her mercilessly. She tried to curl herself into a ball for protection, but it didn't do much good. Ribs fractured, and soon she was covered in throbbing bruises. Though she tried very hard to maintain silence, tiny whimpers started to slip through her control. She didn't look at Caspian.

A huge, meaty hand clamped down on her throat. Lu felt herself being dragged off the ground and into the air by the bald man, who held her there dangling by her neck. Tears began to slip out of the corners of her eyes at the pain. Oxygen became a thing of the past. As she slowely ran out of air, Lu began to kick feebly at her tormentor. The movement was barely more than a small twitch.

The roaring in her ears drowned out the voice of the prince as she flew through the air, landing in a crumpled heap by the bars separating her from freedom.

Lu Looked up at Caspian, who was kneeling over her on the other side of the bars. His eyes were glowing in rage, and his hands were shaking. She smiled weakly up at him.

" Go team," she muttered. The prince brought his face closer to her's.

" Lucifer I can't do this." he whispered. Lu widened her battered grin and reached up to him, brushing her fingers against his cheekbone.

" C'mon Caspian, I'm taking one for the team. You got wipped, now it's my turn." His eyes were so dark it made Lu want to cry harder.

" Don't ask me to do this." she ran her thumb under his eye, feeling wetness there. Her heart lurched, the shock travelled through her body, agravating all the bruises and broken bones.

" We're a team, and that means we share the pain. It's my turn, deal with it." she croaked.

" Well isn't this touching." Lord Donnon signaled the bald man to continue administering to Lu. He dragged her away by the ankle with one meaty paw, then moved his hands further up her leg. She squirmed, but there was no effect.

With one hand above her ankle and the other below her knee, baldy began to apply pressure, bending her leg backwards. Lu started to scream as the pain became unbarable. Amid the echoes of her shrieks around the room, there was a loud **snap**. The room turned red, and Lu stopped screaming. Suddenly there were two bald men standing over her, then four. She couldn't hear, feel, or see anything but pain. Then everything faded to black.

The room faded back from black to red fairly quickly. Lu was laying on her back, watching as baldy leaned over her and Lord Donnon faced Caspian. Her leg had drowned out all of her other injuries, and felt like it had been lit on fire. She was sobbing without restraint now, trying to inch herself away as baldy moved his foot to nudge her snapped leg.

***Snap* **suddenly a loud snap echoed throughout the room, followed by another. Lu's first though was that her bones were being broken without anyone touching her. That was until the screaming started.

She turned her head and saw a tall dark figure, standing out against the red background. The figure had it's hands around the throat of Lord Donnon, who was clawing at them and begging for mercy. One of the figures fists pulled back and smashed into the man's face so hard he fell over backward, his face a bloody mass. Then the mysterious shape put a boot on the Lord's chest and grabbed onto his neck, pulling until his head came off with the spinal cord still attached. Lu's body went numb in shock, even her leg was dulled to a slight throb. She watched in morbid fascination as the figure tossed the still-grimacing head aside and started toward the frozen bald man. Baldy was standing in between her and the figure, his naked crown shining with terror-sweat. She couldn't help but cringe on the ground behind him and hope that he would fend off the nightmare before it got to her. The dark shape smashed into the man and knocked him sideways onto the ground in a flash. Before he could even lift an arm to try and right himself, the figure slammed it's boot down onto his neck hard enough to splinter the vertebrates.

Tears of terror were leaking out of Lu's eyes as the figure turned to face her. She struggled to move away as it approached her, but only succeeded in twitching her arms a bit and reigniting the pain in her leg. Her eyes were wild as she felt the shadow take her gingerly in it's arms, but all she could do was squirm weakly and uselessly. Lu could feel her elven regeneration beginning to react to the severe trauma that her body had undergone, and in a few hours she would be almost completely healed. Her leg however, would take a few more days. If the shadow didn't kill her first.

As the pain started to change into an itching sensation and then disappear, her vision returned and she saw her fearsome savior clearly. Gazing down at her from above were the familiar pitch black eyes of Caspian. Though the flame had been dimmed by the rage and grief that were now making his body shake, Lu could just make it out. Tremors racked through the prince, and she sat up in his lap, wrapping her arms around his neck. He froze in shock.

" Caspian," she whispered, resting her forehead against his, " I'm so sorry. This is all my fault." he put his arms around her waist and held her against him firmly but gently. He didn't know that her ribs had healed already. Once she knew it was Caspian holding her, a strange feeling washed over Lu. She felt completely safe somehow, because she knew that nothing would ever be able to hurt her while she was in his arms. The broken bars and mangled corpses were testament to that.

" You're alright, that's what matters." he murmured, releasing a shaky sigh. Lu shook her head.

" If it helps, I was coming back when they grabbed me and Pam." Caspian stared at her in wonder.

" Coming back to me? You were free, why would you do that?" The glimmer of hope in his eyes made her heart hurt. She wished she could tell him what he wanted to hear, but the world didn't work like that.

" I found out about the bridge, and the plan to attack the forest. That was why I left, but then I realized that you would definitely declare war on the Narnians if I was with them. So I decided to come back, but then me and Pam got surrounded by kidnappers." The glimmer disappeared and she cringed inside. Had she really not cared about his feelings at all before? It seemed so impossible now that she did.

" I see." he said, hiding his disappointment completely. " We should probably leave." He stood up, holding her bridal-style. This intimacy made Lu uncomfortable, but not as much as before, and she didn't have a choice anyway.

" what happened to the bars?" she asked, putting her arms around his neck.

" I broke them." he answered simply. Lu itched to see just how thick the mettle of the bars was. They were definitely more than five inches around each. No human had the strength to snap mettle that thick, let alone rip out a man's spinal cord. She couldn't help but shiver in his arms. What was he?

" Hmm." he carried her to the other room, where the bars had been raised. There they found Pam sitting with her back against the wall and legs drawn up to her chest. She had Lu's boots with her, and she was sobbing into her hands. " Pam it's okay." Lu told the girl kindly. She looked up in wonder.

" I thought they were going to kill you!" she choked, " The sounds were awful, you were screaming and stuff. I wanted to help, but I was so scared. Lu please tell me you're okay!"

" Yeah I'm fine now. When by body gets destroyed like that, I heal really fast. It's an elf thing." Lu said distractedly, twisting some of Caspian's silky hair with her fingers.

" Then why's he carrying you?" the girl wondered, a sly smile spreading across her face.

" Her leg's broken." interjected Caspian. Pam blushed. Lu continued twirling her piece of the prince's hair. " Do you know the way out from here?"

Pam, now scarlet, nodded and began walking. Caspian followed her, the incapacitated Lu still in his arms.

" You know" Lu whispered to Caspian, " I still don't like you. This is just the drugs." The prince's eyes flashed dark almost too quickly for her to miss.

" Is that so?" he murmured. Lu nodded droopily, her head coming to rest buried in the crook of his neck.

" Yep. When I wake up I'm going to go back to convincing you that you should let me go. Because you should, you know. Caged birds can't sing." she sighed, yawning and tightening her arms around his neck. " What you did in that room? When they were beating me, I was more afraid of you than I was of them. You're way more terrifying than a couple of kidnappers. What are you?" Caspian's black eyes had turned into stone and began to burn again. Had Lu seen, she probably would have tried to run away. The only thing she noticed in her drowsy and drugged state was his arms constricting around her.

" Only you have a chance of figuring that out Lucifer."

**Soo, did you like it? Did you not like it? What's gonna happen? Remember, reviews=author crack. and like Lewis Carroll, I find it difficult to write without it. You don't even have to log in, just make up a random name(points for creativity) and tell me what you thought!  
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	23. Sparkles

**A/N I'm so sorry I've been so distracted! Mostly by the Hunger Games, Inglorious Basterds, Artemis Fowl and Hannibal Rising- but none of my stuff for that will make it up here. Not unless you want it to.. hint. Also, I almost deleted this because my cousin found out it's name. I literally logged on to delete it when I found Luminent's review. I was so touched, I started working on this chapter. Give Luminent a round of applause for saving this fanfiction. Also next chapter has the P I promised like forever ago. literally, no joke this time.**

Lu woke up with her face pressed up against a giant screen, like those she'd been told about by the Pevensies. The ones with moving pictures, like a window with nothing behind it-a slice of life splattered on a canvas. Her screen had no color save two-black and red. The figures were bits of dark contrasting with the red background, and there were only two of them as well. One was easily recognizable-tall, muscular, and commanding; the other was lying on his back, the tall one's boot on his chest. His arms and legs were waving about helplessly, bringing to mind a beetle that had been tipped over by the finger of some cruel child. The scene that played out was on a forty five second loop, going around in circles again and again and again.

The taller figure bent over, their black outlines overlapping to make one strange shape as his hand became part of the other's neck. The profile view of the two, reminiscent of Egyptian wall paintings from a different world, allowed Lu to see in detail one man's mouth open in a silent scream of unimaginable pain and the other's teeth bared in a feral snarl.

Slowly, agonizingly, the man's neck elongated until the skin on both sides ripped. When all of the flesh had been torn apart, the head was still connected to the body be the spine and a jumble of nerves from the upper part of the peripheral nervous system. Lu was almost seizing at that point, and her brain gave a painful twinge when the man blinked. Despite the blood draining out of his head, he would be alive for another few seconds to experience the tremendous pain of having his spine torn out of his body. With an awful squelch, each vertebrate was pulled from the neck along with tendons and nerves that pulled taught before snapping to dangle and stream blood over the man's chest. The liquid draining from the spine and head was as black as Caspian's eyes-the first things Lu saw when her own flew open after too many repetitions of that gruesome reality. The reality of what the prince was, what he could do. The bars of that cell had proven in their broken state that he was just about as human as she.

"You're awake." he whispered. Lu pulled the corner of her mouth back, exposing tiny, sharp teeth in a grimace of disgust.

"Wake up in one cage, wake up in another," she sat up, kicking the covers away with a shiver as if it were slithering creatures from the bottom of a deep lake around her ankles instead of black silk sheets. "What's the difference? That your's is prettier-that you actually give a damn about me? Or that you're asking more of me than they were?" she was facing the bed from the middle of the room, her legs itching to take her somewhere he couldn't find them or the rest of her. Caspian's face was blank, his eyes following her every move. He got up from the bed slowly, sensing she was about to skitter off like a frightened rabbit.

"What did you see before you opened your eyes?" He asked firmly. Lu shook her head and stumbled back a few steps, but he had seen her twitching before her eyes opened and wasn't about to give up. "Lucifer, what did you see?" He'd moved in front of the door-there was no where to go. Lu kept herself from moving as he advanced, flinching when his arms circled her waist. She glared at his chest, moving up to his face and then to a patch of floor off to the side. Her head did not raise, and one of his hands rested on her shoulder before smoothing back the fiery-curls hiding her eyes. "Tell me." his voice was low and soft, like he was trying to charm a scared little animal.

"The spine." she choked on the words, her mouth felt numb. She'd been in many battles, witnessed massacres, seen her entire family obliterated-but what he'd done to that man was a new level of gruesome. Caspian relaxed.

"If it helps, I've never done that before." Lu's eyes widened; her head snapped up. He was almost grinning.

"_Why_ are you _smiling_?" her voice was loaded with disgust, but Caspian's smile only grew.

"You're upset because I killed a man that was hurting you? Of all things-it had to be the one I don't regret. I'd do it over a hundred times." His strange smile had her anger beginning to ebb. The picture on the screen in her head began to fade.

"You could have been more humane about it. But seriously, why are you smiling?" The thing grew even more until he was practically beaming-Lu's jaw dropped. She'd seen him angry, brooding, sleeping, relaxed, concerned, serious, lustful, furious-but happy?

"I'm just glad to have you back." his tone was familiar in an unfamiliar way. She'd never heard it in his voice before. "You with your temper and your righteousness. You have no idea how much I've missed you Lucifer." Lu's eyebrows were almost touching and her eyes were in serious danger of landing on the floor-as was the rest of her body. Her weak knees where becoming more and more useless under his beatific gaze. She swore his eyes were sparkling-sparkles that crept inside Lu's brain and smashed into her thoughts, which began to break, twist, and jumble until she was pitching foreward. Before the floor could smash into her face, Caspian had her pinned to his chest. She closed her eyes-afraid those sparkles would sneak into her brain again, and uncomfortable with staring at his bare chest. "What happened?" Now the tone was familiar-he was worried-and the smile was gone. What was wrong? She couldn't remember anything about him affecting him like that before. Except when he was being scary-but what she'd felt was different than fear.

"I don't know-side affect of the drugs?"that was lame and she knew it. Warning: side effects may include itching, nausea, and increased affection for evil Telmarine Princes. Like that would ever happen.

"Shouldn't you lie down?" Instead of sparking annoyance, his concern ignited a warm feeling in her chest. A feeling that almost immediately changed to unease, but not before her hands could unconsciously reach over his shoulders and twist into the dark, silky strands.

"I'll be alright, as long as you can keep from smiling at me like that." They both froze. His muscles tensed beneath her arms and against her chest before he pulled back to look at her. His creased brow slowly smoothed into a grin that grew bigger and bigger. His eyes began to sparkle. "I mean, you actually happy? The shock might kill me." she added quickly, her mind beginning to go fuzzy again. He looked unconvinced. "Stop that."

"Oh right, sorry." he made a visible, hilarious attempt to keep a strait face, but it was a losing battle. Lu watched him for a minute before cracking up-her body wracked with uncontrollable giggles. She buried her face in his neck to hide from the smile, whose victory over Caspian was announced by the deep laughter that vibrated through her from his chest.

"I think I missed you a lot while I was asleep." she admitted into his silky hair, safe from his penetrating gaze. His arms tightened around her fragile frame.

"I love you Lucifer" he said it without a trace of doubt. No hesitation. She did not pull away, though whatever was in her chest cringed.

"I-I'm, well.." she wanted to explain-tell him that she didn't think she was even capable of such an emotion, but the words didn't seem to want to come out. "you-"

"You don't have to say anything." he said. Did he sound disappointed? Lu cringed further, she didn't want to be the cause of that smile's disappearance-even if it liked to open fire on her thoughts.

"But I do." she hid her face further in his silky hair, her lips brushing the skin on his neck. The weight of her confession was too distracting for her to notice his slight shudder. "I like you. I guess, I'd rather be in your cage than someone else's. But it's still a cage. I can't be truly happy with a situation unless I know I'm in it because I want to be. I don't want to be here. I can't." She spoke the last words with no sound, they were not something for him to hear.

Lu pulled back and pushed on his chest. Caspian stood reluctantly, but his hands remained on her shoulders. She might as well have been chained to the ground, he wasn't going to let her move an inch.

"I need to go see the professor." Lu announced firmly. She needed to know how much damage her absence had caused, and if there had been any changes in Telmarine-Narnian relations. Caspian's eyes narrowed fractionally, though a corner of his lips was twisted back. Thankfully, that didn't have the effect of a fully fledged grin.

"Alright." his tone was laced with the smirk on his face.

"_Alone_." she growled. His lips untwisted into a grim line.

"I'm afraid that's not going to be possible" Lu glared up at him defiantly but his obsidian eyes were stern. "Yes, I'm definitely going to let you out of my sight after two months of-"

"Fine." she hissed, "I want to see Derek."

Since waking, she'd had in the back of her mind the fear that somehow during her absence something had happened to her friend. Her fear grew when Caspian's expression didn't change. He was hiding something, otherwise he would have shown his anger at her concern for the boy. Her eyes narrowed in suspicion. "You didn't kill him, did you?" The prince blinked-his version of shifting uncomfortably. Lu wrenched out of his grip and threw herself on the bed, screaming her grief into the black silk sheets. Before her lungs could finish putting all their air into high pitched keening, the prince's large, warm hands were around her waist and dragging her to his chest.

"Let me GO! You're HORRIBLE!" she shrieked and squirmed with no effect, and was carried out the door. By the time they reached the main castle, Lu was too sad to even struggle. He could take everything from her, and there was nothing she could do. Absolutely nothing. "Where are we going?" she asked defeatedly. Caspian just set her down and began towing her along by the wrist.

"I'm taking you to the professor." Lu's gaze grew even more sullen. There was only one reason he'd be giving in to her.

"Because Derek's dead." she muttered. The hallways were deserted. How many people had he killed in the last two months? All of them?

With that thought, the dark hallway grew even more sinister. Lu began to see blood smears on the walls, a chandelier became a tangle of heads and spines with dangling tendons. She hopped a couple of steps closer to Caspian. As terrifying as he was, she figured he wouldn't let anything hurt her. Drawing comfort from him was ironic, especially since he was the potential cause of all her imagination showed her.

"I didn't kill your friend" The prince's deep voice made Lu jump in fear, disrupting the trance she'd been put in by a window-a small sliver of freedom. She turned back to the darkness and gazed at Caspian, stunned.

"You didn't?" _but then why.._

"No. Somehow, through all the...everything I felt, it occurred to me that you would be upset if I killed him." his face was grim, something bad had still happened. Lu could see it. "but I came very close."

"So where is he?" she breathed, hardly able to believe Caspian had restrained himself from killing Derek, of all people.

"I banished him."

"What!?"

"It was either that or kill him. I knew I couldn't let the boy live if I ever actually _saw_ him."

"So you forced him out of the kingdom? You might as well have killed him!" Lu's eyebrows were inverted in anguish and her voice was cracking. What if Derek had tried to find her in the forest? The Narnian's would have shot him in a second. Rage filled her at the thought of her friend at the edge of the woods, suffocating in the blood flowing from an arrow through his throat, and she turned away from Caspian. His grip tightened on her wrist. "Please. I really, really need to be alone right now."she hissed. The prince's finger's loosened, and she slipped free. Without looking back, she started down the stairs she knew would take her to Cornelius's study. By the end, she was practically sprinting through the scary corridor. Slamming into the professor's door, she beat it with her tiny fists until it was replaced by a gaunt man that only slightly resembled the professor.

"Lu," he greeted her wryly, "Are you quite alright? I wondered when I'd be seeing you again." Lu frowned, wasn't that what he'd said to her the first time she came to see him? Talk about deja vu..

"I'm a little freaked out. Two months? It's September, isn't it?" The professor's eyes were grim. He nodded.

"We have a week. Will you stay?" Lu shifted under his intense, haunted gaze.

"I don't- let's not talk about that now." she looked around a the empty hall, "where is everyone?"

"They're not dead. At least, not all of them." he stated bluntly, though his tone seemed to add another, silent word. Yet.

"then-"

"Caspian closed the court shortly after you left, while he still had some shred of sanity. The nobles that generally stay here have relocated to their various estates. Most of the staff are on leave, because there aren't many people to look after."

"Not all of them?" the professor offered Lu a seat and took the one opposite her.

"Well, a few weren't so lucky. Have you heard of Lady Prunella?"

"Is she dead?" Lu's voice was a guilty whisper.

"Yes, and her parents. Her baby brother is being cared for by Lady Prunaprismia. Her and Miraz are due to return from the seaside palace sometime today. The other nobles should be arriving as well, now that you're back."

"Now that I'm back? Do they really think it's safe, after everything he's done?"

"It's a risk they're willing to take. They all want to be near the prince, to try and influence him, gain his favor-what that nobles do."

"That's really lame." a smirk ghosted the professor's hollow features.

"Quite, however, I should warn you. His majesty has proven very..difficult to influence, as most of the nobles have discovered. They may, however, consider you a weaker target. So far the prince has done a remarkable job at keeping you to himself, but should you come in contact with any of the members of court, they may attempt to use you to get to him."Lu's eyes narrowed.

"That's going to work out brilliantly." she said with sarcasm, "Sooo.., Prunella and her family were the only casualties, were they?"

"Well, we've had a lot of furniture turnover." Lu imagined Caspian lifting up a table and throwing it against the wall. The thing exploded into thousands of tiny wooden fragments, reminding her of the broken cell bars. How in Narnia had he gotten so strong? "And many of the higher up military official's have been killed" Lu let out a breath.

"He murders people in the military?" she gasped in disbelief. The professor gazed hawkishly at her over his spectacles.

"Only in fits of rage. You have to understand, when he's very-er-upset, the astounding self control that he generally exercises is gone. Without it, he's as monstrous as all the other Caspians. Until now, his rage has for the most part been directed at someone in particular. When you left, he started down the path of indiscriminately slaughtering any living thing available. It's killing for no other reason than to release-I'm not really sure you could call it rage-more like hatred in it's concentrated form." Lu's mouth was open in horror, "but like I said, until you left he'd been doing an excellent job-"

"How are _you_ still alive?"

"I hid in here."

"You said that once Caspian's father destroyed an entire village, what else did the other's do? What were they like?" Lu found herself almost fascinated by the murderous feats of Caspian's ancestors. They reinforced her theory that he was not human-at least not entirely.

"Well, they sometimes kept supplies from reaching villages that did not give up enough sons to the army. Such villages, on the outskirts of our region, have as much to fear from the kings as the hostile nations that share our borders. Many have been wiped off the map by kings with rage unable to be sated by the murder of a few. None have been as monstrous as Caspian the conqueror, though the last one came very close-he enjoyed setting tall buildings on fire to watch the people scurry out like little ants. Everyone thought Caspian the tenth would be worse than his father, as that seemed to be the pattern."

"How in Aslan's name have you people been putting up with these homicidal tyrants for the last few hundred years? Don't you have spines? All the Caspians have done is fuck shit up-"

"But that's the problem my dear, that's not all they do. You see, without a Caspian on the throne our kingdom falls apart rather quickly. The economy collapses so poor are forced to roam the streets, nobles corrupt the government, other nations begin to encroach upon our borders-but as soon as the next Caspian comes along, all of those problems go away. They manage the economy, and the nobles and foreigners are all too afraid to try anything. For instance, Lord Miraz tried to rule the country when our Caspian was a baby. Hundreds of Telmarines died of hunger, plagues, contaminated water, and we lost about a third of our land. When Caspian turned fifteen, he took over the kingly duties. Within months, the country was back on track-"

"That doesn't add up. If the Caspians are so smart and invincible, why do they keep getting killed by a bunch of Narnian's with bows? I mean, I love them and all, but my Narnian's don't really strike me as capable of bringing down what you're describing."

"And if they had, they probably would have been able to tell the difference between one of the kings and the regular soldiers. That is very curious indeed. Have you ever seen-"

"Nope, the only one I've seen since Caspian the Conqueror is this one. I'd definitely have remembered." Lu shuddered, remembering the shock she'd experienced on seeing the man that haunted her nightmares in the flesh.

"Quite. It's also very strange that each King has ended up going into the forest alone. The last one had the idea of burning the entire thing to the ground in order to flush you out, and I'm sure other's have had similar ideas-but they always end up alone."

They both fell silent, staring around the room and contemplating the horrifying predicament of the Telmarine people, the Narnians, and Lu.

"It's not as bad as you think" murmured the professor, "at least not since our Caspian took over. As I've said many times, he has oodles more self control that the others. He's the best thing to happen to this kingdom since before Caspian the Conqueror sailed the sea-and when you were found, it seemed the century-long reign of terror had finally come to an end."

"Yeah, until I had to go and screw things up-"

"That was very unwise of you Lu." the professor remarked gently. Lu stared hard at the floor, her eye's filling up with tears.

"It's just _so hard_." she hissed, half angry and half heartbroken. "I'm a prisoner here-all I want to do is get back to the forest. You people are the _enemy, _I'm not supposed to care about any of you-but I do, and I don't want all of you to suffer. And if I leave, you will-and so will the Narnians. But if I don't, the Narnians will still be living like fugitives in their own land-I just want them to be free. _I _just want to be free. I don't want to be here, but I have to be, because Caspian is practically holding everyone within a few hundred miles-the Telmarines and the Narnians-hostage. Unless I do what he wants, he'll kill so many of them. It's just so-I'm sorry." tears were filling up Lu's eyes as her voice cracked. She knew her thought's had been going around in the same depressing circles since she'd been taken, but the situation just seemed so unfair.

"Will you stay?" The professor's eyes were soft, but his tone firm. Lu looked back up at him.

"I don't know!" she choked, jumping out of her seat. Through the haze of tears, she imagined the professor's stare was accusatory. How could she even think about putting her freedom above the lives of thousands of others? But it wasn't just her freedom-it was the Narnian's as well.

**I need reviews to keep focused on this story. Please-even if you're too lazy to log in. heh, that's what I do. My name for reviews is literally toolazytologin. Anyway-tell me you liked it, tell me you hated it, tell my why-or just post meow. Whatever works for you. More reviews and the sooner you get to the next chapter. Believe me-you want the next chapter. Oh yeah.**


	24. Diplomacy

**Oh my gosh. I'm terrible. But I love this story so much I can't abandon it all the way. Thank you so much to those of you that reviewed, the only reason this is up here is because of you guys. Meow.**

Without looking back, Lu fled the room. With absolutely no idea where she was going, she ran up stairs and through corridors indiscriminately. Within minutes, she was completely and irrevocably lost. After a while, it occurred to her that Caspian would probably end up killing someone if she didn't get back to him soon. At that, she started making an effort to find a way back to his room-but it was completely impossible to tell what floor she was on, let alone how to find a specific door out of the hundreds that all looked exactly the same.

And then there was a tall figure in the distance. It was moving-definitely a person. Lu broke into a run, but as the figure drew into focus, her heart began to sink. She had what was probably the worst facial recognition in the history of Narnia-but that short hair, hawk-like nose, and servant's uniform-she'd definitely seen that before.

"Do I-" the man looked up before she could finish.

"Oh, it's you. Someone in your closet again?" his tone was definitely less than helpful.

So that's where she knew him from.

"Look, I know we didn't exactly-"

"Get off to a great start? You locked me in a closet and stole my clothes as part of an _escape plan, _Princess." he spat the title like a curse, "If the prince found out I had anything to do with you running off-even if my only contribution was falling for your trick, I'd have drowned to death in some moat after having all my limbs torn off-"

"Wait," said Lu meekly, "has that happened before?"

"Of course, you think _I _came up with that? And even though I survived, the other's weren't so lucky. Do you even realize how many have died because of that stupid stunt? How can you be so blatantly selfish? People have been suffering for hundreds of years while you've been skipping around in your little forest-you could've saved them all if you'd just let Caspian have you!" Lu stood there, paralyzed by the servant's poisonous words. One of her eyes was squinted, both were trained on the source of her distress. "You were here, and everything was supposed to get better-but then you had to just _run away_. How in the-what do you know about pain? Huh? You think you've suffered? You're nothing but a child! A stupid little girl!"

The scar on Lu's hand began to tingle. Images collided with her retinas-her entire extended elven family torn into tiny pieces by razor sharp icicles, her father's eyes as he stabbed a silver dagger toward her heart, the Pevensies-her other family-deserting her, Cair Paravel- a monument from the time of Narnia's creation and home to hundreds of creatures obliterated by one man's unquenchable thirst for power, the blood of thousands of peaceful Narnians seeping into the ground, the land she loved turning bleak and savage-abandoned by it's roaring protector to become a place of nightmares and lost hope. She'd much rather have been killed like the stupid Telmarines.

But she didn't disagree-didn't defend herself, because he was right. She was selfish. If she wasn't, she wouldn't have tried to escape and ended up double kidnapped. So many had suffered because of her, she didn't deserve to be happy anyway.

"So I'll tell you what-you'd better not try and escape again, do you hear me? Just put on the damn white dress and do whatever the fuck he wants you too-"

***thud*** Lu was wrenched from her daze of depreciating self reflection guided by the words of the servant when his tirade was cut off and replaced by a sickening gurgle.

"**That's enough**." the snarl tore from Caspian's chest as his huge hand contracted around the servants neck. The man's head had been smashed into the wall with such force that droplets of blood clung to the stone around it. The man's high pitched moan bubbled from his throat. Lu blinked before lunging forward and grabbing one of the prince's arms.

"No don't, you'll kill him!" she cried. Caspian's eyes were glazed over, his teeth bared.

"That's the point love." his voice was raspy with rage. Lu was practically hanging off his arm-but it made no difference. The servant's lips were turning blue and tremors wracked his body as the life slowly sputtered out of him. He gave one last shudder, and his hand slipped from where it had been trying desperately to pull away Caspian's wrist. The prince let him fall to the floor in a heap.

"You're.." Lu backed away, freezing when his eyes-still dark with fury-snapped onto her. He stalked toward her, and Lu barely moved an inch when she felt her back hit one of the long, skinny tables that decorated hallways in the castle by making space for flower vases or candles. Caspian pressed his body against hers, his hand firm beneath her jaw.

"Go on," he hissed, his head tilting to the side like some predatory reptile, "say it."

"You're a monster." she spat, impudence having never failed her even in the most dangerous of situations. The corner of his lips twisted back-this was not a smile-before they slammed into hers. His hand was in her hair, forcing her chin up; his arms were around her waist, arching her back against him. His twisted lips moved furiously against hers-which were bruising rapidly under the enormous pressure. Lu tried to tug at his hair, but he didn't notice. The situation brought back the dead man's words. She was to blame for the entire situation. Caspian was killing people-people that actually didn't deserve to die. Maybe she should put on the white dress and give him what he wanted.

But that wouldn't help the Narnians. Sure, it would keep them safe from a Telmarine invasion-but that wasn't what they wanted. They had chosen freedom over safety-something she could relate to at the moment. Which was worth more, the freedom of the Narnian's or the lives of innocent Telmarines?

It was all so complicated and just. Plain. Aufull. Before it was clear cut-kill Telmarines, save Narnians. Now she knew Telmarines weren't all bad and she didn't even know who her real enemy was anymore. Though the signs were pointing more and more towards Caspian. Sure, he was against the bridge and invading the forest, but his mere presence was keeping the Narnian's trapt. With him leading it, the Telmarine army would crush her creatures like ants beneath a boot. Plus, he was the one killing Telmarines. Caspian was the root of both problems, but if she killed him then they'd all apparently be overrun by Calormen-assuming she even could kill him which didn't seem likely.

Tears began to well up in Lu's eyes. She tried to squeeze her eyelids tight to keep them from spilling out, but they did anyway, rolling down her cheeks and ending up on his. She began to curse herself for being so weak-at the same time suffocating from his smothering embrace-which only resulted in diaphragm spasms that shuddered through her body as silent, repressed sobs. Caspian froze with Lu still struggling in his arms and pulled back. Through the film of tears, she could see that he was back.

"Lucifer, what's wrong?" the hand that had been in her hair ghosted across her swollen lips before wiping away some of the moisture on her cheek. "I'm so sorry." His thumb brushed her lips again, this time the feeling reached into her chest. "sorry about that, sorry about what he said-I didn't hear all of it, but.." suddenly his forehead was resting against hers-which meant he had lifted her up. Lu instinctively put her arms around his neck to keep from falling, though there wasn't much chance of that. She was still spasming from sobs and her cheeks were still wet-his apology hadn't had much of an effect. "It wasn't your fault Lucifer." she shook her head. "Don't even think it, alright? I'm the one killing people, not you. I should be able to control myself." Lu shook her head again.

"No one expects you to-not even the professor. From what I've heard, you have more control than all the kings before you. Nope, I don't blame people for blaming me. It's just-"

"Your majesty, you have visitors!" A guard had appeared, breathlessly interrupting Lu and saving her from discussing the Narnian's with Caspian-something she was afraid to do. What if he decided to attack them?-no, he was much better off not knowing what exactly was hidden in the forest and killing all of his soldiers.

"Is the court prepared?" Caspian hadn't turned away from the wall, but Lu blinked owlishly at the guard from over his shoulder.

"Majesty, er, most of them have only just arrived. It would take some time-" The prince let Lu slide to the ground, keeping an arm around her back. She angled away from the guard as Caspian turned around, wiping the tears off her face and trying to keep more from appearing.

"Never mind, I'll greet them myself. Send whoever it is to the throne room." The guard nodded and was already scrambling off down the corridor. Caspian led Lu down a few flights of stairs and through a side entrance to the room in which he'd torn off her scarf and announced their engagement. Their footsteps echoed around the empty chamber-it looked even larger without the crowd of nobles that

mingled around the throne and the smarmy lawmakers that lined the walls and gazed hawkishly down on those they dissaproved of. She'd definitely attracted the majority of those stares last time.

Lu paused and looked at the edge of the large dais on which the throne was situated. That was where her blood had dripped onto the floor just before she'd fainted. Caspian noticed her daze and gently tugged her backwards towards the huge marble chair.

"It took forever to get your blood off the floor-and my shirt never recovered." He murmured from behind. She was in his lap, surveying the huge, empty room from where he'd watched her enter for the first time and where he'd realized who she was. It was strange to see things from his point of view. "Are you alright?"

"For having caused thousands of innocent people to die, I'm doing pretty good." she mumbled distractedly. Caspian's arms tightened until she was trapped against his chest as one of his hands turned her jaw so she met his both angry and desperate gaze.

"You are not responsible for my actions, Lucifer." He growled urgently, "tell me you understand that-"

"Sure," she interrupted in the same quite voice as before, "I'll let you know when I do. Until then-"

"There's nothing you could've done-"

"I could've come here before-" Caspian's eyes flashed-he was furious. Lu felt fear travel up her spine, but it didn't lessen her determination to blame herself.

"And what, let one of the other's have you?" her ribs were starting to ache from the strength of his grip, "Do you know what they were?"

"Actually I do-"

"Violent? Impulsive? Slaves to their own desire?" she glared.

"Sound like anyone I know?" To her surprise, he sounded almost a worried as he was angry.

"You don't know what you're talking about. The other's were monsters. I've felt what they did-you wouldn't have stood a chance." Lu squirmed uncomfortably beneath black eyes as Caspian shuddered beneath her, one of his hands moving up to her hair. "I don't even want to think about it."

"So, what did they feel?" she breathed, curious but hoping not to upset him further. His fingers wove into her curls, and she twisted so her legs bended to the side and she could face him.

"The first?-fascination, then desire. I don't know what happened, but somewhere that became obsession, lust, and even rage. The others were the same-I can't tell whether they wanted to keep you or kill you more. Maybe a little bit of both." It was Lu's turn to shiver.

"that's awful."she hissed. "why are you different?"

"I don't know." he answered honestly, "But I'm glad that I am" a corner of Lu's lips pulled back, and she put her knees on either side of his legs without thinking to raise herself up against him. Her arms looped around his neck as she smiled genuinely over his shoulder, where he couldn't see. His lips pressed against her shoulder-even though she could feel his confusion at her sudden affection, he devoured it like a man starved for centuries.

"I'm glad too." she murmured towards the dark marble of the throne's back. Suddenly ripping a man's spine out didn't seem all that bad. Not compared to the horrifying deeds of the old kings.

"To his majesty Caspian the Tenth, prince of this realm, it is my honor to present the esteemed diplomats of- er.." Lu slid back down to Caspian's lap as the squire broke off, his face turning a lovely shade of cherry. "uh, where did you say it was again?"

"Calormene" provided the tall young man at the head of the group of four others that were just stepping through the same archway that Lu had more than two months ago. Unlike the others, he wore the clothes of a Telmarine. As he moved away from the others, Lu recognized a grim faced Derek. Her heart jumped, but Caspian's arms tightened fractionally around her chest. "Your majesty, after my banishment I was taken in by the kingdom of Calormene across the great desert. Due to certain-er-changes in circumstance-" his eyes moved to Lu and he began to smile "-I hoped that you would consider a repeal of my sentence. The Capormene Royalty asked me to escort their diplomats here so that they may negotiate the establishment of trade and cooperation between your two great nations."

Lu gently laid her tiny hand over Caspian's, willing him to let Derek stay. She felt the prince's lips move against her neck as he leaned to whisper "I don't suppose you would forgive me for throwing him out?" his tone was not playful in the slightest.

"No." Lu hissed firmly. Caspian's sigh tickled the skin of her shoulder, his lips left her neck.

"I grant your request of repealment, and welcome the diplomats of Calormene." he announced. Derek's shoulders sagged in relief, and he waved forward one of the people dressed in what Lu decided were very ornate looking rags. The man was tall, his other features concealed by the long, large robe swishing around his feet. As he stepped up to the dais, his eyes were illuminated by a ray of light from the same window that had exposed Lu to Caspian her first time in that room. They were blue.

Blue. Four. Lu was off Caspian's lap and halfway to the group of 'diplomats' in a second, her arms outstretched. But it was at that halfway point that she froze, realizing what giving them away would mean. Every bit of her screamed to throw herself at that blue eyed young man, but she let her arms fall back to her sides.

"Er, I'm sorry. I thought I recognized you-I knew some diplomats from Calormene-uh-a long time ago." she said quietly. The robed man nodded, his eyes sparkling.

"Perfectly understandable." he replied. Lu's ears tingled at the sound of the voice she'd been longing to hear for over a thousand years. She swayed toward him without thinking just as the iron arm that dragged her off the high king's throne so long ago wrapped around her waist and trapped her against the chest she'd forgotten in her joy.

"I'm sure I speak for all the council when I welcome you to our kingdom." Blue eyes flashed as they flicked to the arm before focusing above her head. "I hope you enjoy your stay." Caspian added grimly. With a jolt Lu realized the survival rate of diplomats in Narnia under the rule of the Caspian's probably wasn't good at all. What could the other countries do about it anyway? With Caspian on the throne-nothing at all. "We shall discuss whatever business you bring tomorrow. For now, the squire will show you to your rooms."

And Lu was forced to stand still in Caspian's arms as the disguised Pevensies were herded from the hall by the bumbling squire. As they left, the one she supposed to be Edmund tossed her a concerned glance-but the next instant they were gone.

**I put this up here for YOU PEOPLE. Y you no tell me what you think?**


End file.
